Of the 15.42 lakh young voters, who will cast their franchise in the coming elections, 7,72,649 are first-time voters. They were enrolled during the current special summary revision. Of these, 2,743 are millenial voters, who were born in 2000, according to the final (tentative) 2018 rolls.
Revealing these statistics, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Karnataka Sanjiv Kumar told presspersons here on Saturday that a special communication drive had been taken up to reach out to young voters and women voters. While the draft roll had 7,69,472 young voters, 7,72,649 young voters were added during the summary revision taking the total number of young voters to 15,42,121, he said.
As per the 2011 census, 3.3% of the total population is in the 18-19 age group. In this age group, the eligible population is 22,85,546.
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This means the number of young voters in the current final rolls is about 67% of the eligible population, Mr. Sanjiv Kumar explained.
Karnataka now has around 4.96 crore voters as per the final (tentative) electoral rolls.
While Bengaluru South has the highest number of voters in the entire State, Sringeri Assembly constituency has the lowest.
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Around 4,552 voters have registered under the ‘third gender’ category. The average voters per constituency has increased from 1.86 lakh in 2013 elections to 2.21 lakh this time.
As the summary revision is on till February 28, the final publication of the electoral rolls 2018 will be done on February 28.
The rolls will be made available on the CEO website and also displayed for public view at all designated locations. Mr. Sanjiv Kumar also released the Election Commission’s logo for the Assembly polls 2018 with the slogan “Inclusive, Accessible and Ethical Elections.”
“The Commission is also contemplating to appoint an ambassador for the elections. However, the name is yet to be finalised,” he said.
Replying to queries, he said the electoral roll revision was a healthy one and all enrolled voters will get their voter identity cards by March 15.
Assisting the disabled
Determined to make the elections accessible for persons with disabilities, the Election Commission will ensure all such persons are provided with the required assistive devices and equipment including ramps in the polling stations on the polling day. “We have procured a list of 12 lakh disabled persons from the Department of Women and Child Welfare and have taken up a special drive to check if they are enrolled. If they are not, we will still enroll them and give them the voter identity cards,” the Chief Electoral Officer said.
The Election Commission will also encourage their staff, who seek exemption from poll duty on account of some disability, to take up the duty. “We will ensure that they are given all assistance as we do not want them to stay away from work owing to their disability,” he said.