Lok Sabha polls: 6 of 10 eligible voters aren’t registered

NEW DELHI: Even as political parties tailor their Lok Sabha poll campaigns to cater to the new, young voter, enrolment levels in the age group of 18-19 years, the Election Commission (EC) admits remain abysmally low at 35%- 40%. So, six out of every 10 newly eligible voters are unregistered.

In fact, the project plan for Phase-II of EC’s Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation Programme ( SVEEP), approved by the Commission and shared with the states in March, had acknowledged the “need to increase the percentage of enrolment in the newly eligible 18-19 year age group from the existing 35%-40 % to nearly 80%”.

Poll strategists associated with a mainstream political party, who studied the updated electoral rolls of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, found that low registration levels among new voters in the 18-22 years’ category were common to all the four key states. While Maharashtra fared the worst with 66.2% unregistered young voters, the corresponding figures for Bihar , Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand are 60.5%, 59.7% and 56.9%, respectively. The registered voter percentage was calculated based on the latest Census data.

Were the next Lok Sabha poll to be held with the aforesaid figures of registered young voters, all of whom will be voting for the first time in a parliamentary election , only 33.8% of the total population between 18 and 22 years will be eligible to vote in Maharashtra , Bihar (39.5%), Andhra Pradesh (40.3%) and Jharkhand (43.1%).

According to party strategists that compiled the figures, the rolls for other states are being studied to compile the registration percentages of young voters there.

Meanwhile, the EC, with the help of its SVEEP, plans to address this problem by reaching out to youth on college campuses, organizing awareness camps and festivals, running TV and radio campaigns and using young icons to motivate them to register ahead of the 2014 general election.

The state CEOs have been advised by the EC to work closely with NGOs, corporate houses, media and other voluntary organizations to spread awareness among the newly-eligible voters.