THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : As many as 5.75 lakh new voters have entered the electoral roll, taking the total number of electors in Kerala to 2.7 crore. The final state electoral roll for 2024 was published on January 22 after a special summary revision ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
During the special summary revision, over 6.2 lakh new names were added and 3.75 lakh names deleted from the roll, after taking into account complaints and suggestions on the draft electoral roll published on October 27 last year.
Enrolment of young voters in the 18-19 age group saw a record rise after the draft electoral roll was published, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)-Kerala Sanjay Kaul told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
“The number of young voters stood at 77,176 when the draft voters list was brought out on October 27 last year. This increased significantly to 2.88 lakh when the final electoral roll was published,” Kaul said, attributing the huge growth to the success of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation program, better known as SVEEP, in Kerala.
All categories of voters, excluding those in the Persons With Disability (PwD) category and voters aged above 80 years, recorded a rise in comparison to the draft electoral roll. As many as 309 voters figure in the third gender category in the final electoral roll this time.
Saying that applications for fresh voter enrolment will be accepted till the last date of nomination after declaration of election, Kaul urged people to enrol if they have missed the earlier deadlines.
Booth-level officers (BLOs) visited houses and gathered information, including details of deceased electors. The final voters’ list will again be subjected to physical doorstep verification by the BLOs over the next 15 days, he said.
Following the Election Commission’s directive, chip-enabled electors’ photo identity cards (EPICs) with new security features are being distributed to newly enrolled voters or those who sought changes in details.
Youth Congress fake EPIC row
On the case related to alleged use of fake EPICs for the Youth Congress organisational polls, Kaul said it was a ‘serious matter’ and the police investigation was on. He clarified that a forged EPIC would not enable a person to cast vote as the photo and other details have to match with details in the electoral roll. However, fake EPICs could be misused as proof of identity, he said