9.3% rise in women electorate over 2019, men up 6.9%

NEW DELHI: Since 43.1 crore in 2019 LS polls, the female electorate has grown 9.3% this year, while male voters have risen 6.9% from 46.4 crore. Women electors outnumber male voters in a dozen states/UTs, including Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Kerala.
Around 1.85 crore first-time voters in 18-19 age group were added to latest electoral roll. This is 22.7% more than 18-19 year-olds added in 2019. Also, 10.6 lakh advance applications for enrolment have been received from 17-plus youths. Electors in 20-29 age group, as per final 2024 roll, total over 19.7 crore.
Third-gender electors as on Jan 1, 2024, total 48,044, up from 39,683 in 2019, while PwD (persons with disabilities) voters have almost doubled to 88.4 lakh from 45.6 lakh. As many as 1.86 crore senior citizens figure in latest rolls, of which 2.38 lakh are centenarians.

A senior EC functionary attributed the notable rise in female electorate, voters aged 18-19 years and PwD voters to focused efforts undertaken by Chief Commissioner Rajiv Kumar to improve not only purity and health of electoral roll but also make it more inclusive with meticulous planning, coordination and participation of political parties. “Special assistant electoral registration officers were appointed to work with educational institutions and encourage eligible young voters to enroll. Constituencies with low registration and turnout of women were identified and intensive efforts taken to correct this. Special endeavours helped in 100% enrolment of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs),” said the EC official.
Efforts to clean up the rolls with rigorous scrutiny and house-to-house verification have seen deletion of 1.65 crore deceased, permanently shifted and duplicate voters.