NEW DELHI: In a first, the Election Commission of India on Thursday announced that those above the age of 17 years can now apply in advance to get enrolled in the voters’ list and not wait until the voting age of 18 years, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced Thursday.
“Above 17-year-old youngsters can now apply in advance for having their names enrolled in the Voters list and not necessarily have to await the pre-requisite criterion of attaining the age of 18 years on 1st January of a year,” said a statement issued by the EC.
The Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey has directed the chief electoral officers and electoral registration officers of all states to work out tech-enabled solutions to enable the youth to file their advance applications concerning three subsequent qualifying dates - April 1, July 1 and October 1, and not just January 1.
The move was taken as the electoral roll was only updated on January 1, which meant that a large number of young persons who completed 18 years had to wait for the particular summary revision of the following year for enrollment and were not able to participate in elections held in the intervening period.
This will boost EC’s efforts to enrol new young voters who turn 18 in a year, for which an amendment was recently made to allow quarterly registration of voters.
After getting registered, the young voter would be issued an Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC).
For the current round of annual revision of the electoral roll, 2023, any citizen attaining the age of 18 years by April 1, July 1 and October 1 of 2023 can also submit an advance application for registration as a
voter from the date of draft publication of electoral roll,
it said. The Commission has already managed to induct 1,736,181 new voters between 18-19. Last year, 14,526,678 (14.5 million) new voters were added to the list, officials said. The Commission has also made the registration forms more user-friendly and more straightforward.
Boost to EC’s efforts to enrol young voters
This will boost EC’s efforts to enrol new young voters who turn 18 in a year, for which an amendment was recently made to allow quarterly registration of voters.
After getting registered, the young voter would be issued an Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC).