New Delhi [India]: The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced that 96.88 crore people are registered to vote for the forthcoming General Elections, marking it the largest electorate.
It also added over two crore youth electors in the age group of 18 to 29 years have been added in the voters' list.
After a months-long intensive Special Summary Revision 2024 exercise and ahead of the General Elections 2024, the Election Commission of India has published the electoral rolls in all States/UTs across the country with reference to January 1, 2024, as the qualifying date.
"This also included the successful completion of the revision of electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, following the delimitation of constituencies. The endeavour, undertaken with meticulous planning, coordination and participation of political parties has yielded noteworthy achievements in terms of inclusivity, health and purity of the electoral rolls," the EC stated.
Meanwhile, the gender ratio has increased from 940 in 2023 to 948 in 2024, the poll panel said.
The Commission has put special emphasis on the purity and health of the Electoral Roll along with disclosures and transparency in the revision of electoral rolls.
It may be recalled that Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, in first, held a press conference at Pune during the launch of the Special Summary Revision Exercise in November 2022.
He explained in detail the various tasks involved in the revision of electoral rolls along with the participation of political parties at every stage.
Moreover, it is noteworthy that there is an increase in female voter registrations, exemplifying a concerted effort towards gender parity and inclusivity within the electoral framework.
"The Electoral Roll gender ratio has surged positively, indicating the growing role of women in shaping the democratic fabric of the nation. Over 2.63 crore new electors have been included in the electoral roll, out of which around 1.41 crore are female electors which surpassed the newly enrolled male voters (~ 1.22 crore) by over 15 per cent," it poll body said.
Special endeavours have been undertaken to achieve 100 per cent registration of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG), making the electoral rolls the most inclusive to date, it added.
According to the Election Commission, after thorough house-to-house verification, names of 1,65,76,654 deceased, permanently shifted, and duplicate electors have been deleted from the electoral rolls.
"This comprehensive cleanup ensures the integrity and purity of the electoral process. It includes 67,82,642 dead voters, 75,11,128 permanently shifted/absent voters and 22,05,685 duplicate voters," it added.
—ANI