CHANDIGARH: Of the 2.03 crore electorate in Haryana, 9,554 are centenarians, while 2.42 lakh are above 85 years of age, and 4.82 lakh are first-time voters, says Election Commission (EC) data. Therefore, all parties in the Jat land are wooing old-age pensioners by promising to enhance pensions.
Haryana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pankaj Agarwal said that 2,03,27,631 voters in the state are eligible to exercise their franchise. Of these, 1,08,19,021 are men, 95,08,155 women, and 455 third-gender voters.
Besides, 4,82,896 are first-time voters in the 18-19 year-old age group. Similarly, 1,49,387 voters with disabilities, and 2,42,818 voters over 85 years. Also, there are 9,554 voters who are over 100 years old. The 20-29 age group includes 41,52,806 voters.
“Haryana has a robust, healthy lifestyle. We salute all the voters above 100 years and we will make every effort to ensure they all come out to vote,” an electoral official said.
Former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced that if the Congress is voted to power, the old age pension will be increased to Rs 6,000 per month from the present Rs 3,000, while Indian National Lok Dal has announced to give Rs 7,500 per month. Meanwhile, Jannayak Janata Party has promised to increase the old age pension to Rs 5,100 per month.
There are 17,85,137 old-age pension beneficiaries in the state at present, as per the data with the state government, while the state has an annual budget of Rs 5,538 crore for them in 2023-24.
CEO Agarwal said there will be 20,629 polling booths in the state, of which 7,132 will be in urban and 13,497 in rural areas. These have been set up at 10,495 locations across the state. He also said the final voter list will be published on August 27. Polling in the state will be held on October 1, followed by counting on October 4.