1.98cr first-time voters register in Maharashtra ………..Sanjeev Shivadekar & Hemali Chhapia
Mumbai: Our politicians may be greying, but a significant percentage of the countrys electorate is just about kissing adulthood. Closer home, fresh voter registration in Maharashtra stands at a peak of 1.98 crore (or 27% of the states total voters), a quantum leap over the paltry 30 lakh new voters who registered during the parliamentary election in 2004.
Across India, data from the Election Commission shows that the number of voters in the age group of 18 to 20 who have enrolled for the 15th Lok Sabha election stands at 2.85 crore. Assuming that a similar proportion of those aged 21 or 22 have also registered, the number of those who were too young to vote in 2004 but are now registered could be around five crore.
Data from the state election office reflects a rise in the number of voters across Mumbai as well. North Mumbai has recorded the maximum fresh registration of 1.27 lakh, followed by North Central (1.25 lakh), North East Mumbai (1.10 lakh), South Mumbai (95,000), North West (40,000) and South Central where 30,000 fresh voters signed up.
Close to 50,000 people in the island city registered to vote after 26/11, SEC sources revealed. Maharashtras chief electoral officer Debashish Chakrabarty attributed the expansion of the electoral base to the states literacy rate and awareness among its citizens. The literacy rate is, of course, not a new factor, but political awareness and the determination of voters to make their vote count have clearly risen hugely after 26/11.
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