Tamil Nadu's electorate up by 23.5 lakhs

The State’s electorate has gone up by 23.49 lakhs, taking the total number of electors to 5.37 crore.

Giving an account of important features of the electoral roll, which was released district-wise on Friday, Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, told a press conference that of about 29.38 lakh applications for addition, around 27.53 lakh applications were accepted.

The names of 4.03 lakh persons were deleted due to various reasons. The net addition was around 23.49 lakhs.

Of the State’s total electorate of 5.37 crore, men accounted for 2.69 crore and women 2.68 crore, with transgender numbering 2,996.

However, he described as “a matter of concern” that only 49 per cent of the eligible population in the age group of 18 to 19 years was enrolled, even though the coverage of the teenagers now went up by 16 per cent compared to 2013.

On the factors behind the shortfall in enrolment, the CEO explained that in the absence of final data of the State’s present population, the figure of shortfall was calculated on the basis of projections which, in turn, were ased on the provisional figures of the Census 2011.

However, he emphasised the need for greater sensitisation of the youth, who had to be conveyed that “voting is as exciting as going to movies.”

Apart from having 1,374 campus ambassadors across the State, the Elections Department tied up with some non-governmental organisations to achieve higher enrolment of teenagers.