TS Polls: 12 lakh new voters added by EC

Fresh electoral rolls published by the Election Commission of India on Friday night disclosed a jump of 12 lakh voters when compared to the draft voters’ list published earlier for the poll-bound Telangana.Although 11.81 lakh new voters' names have been included in the fresh list, the total number of voters has come down by 8.55 lakh when compared to the electorate of 2014 polls. In the last Assembly elections, the total electorate was 2,81,74,055. This number has now gone down to 2,73,28,054. 

However, this number has gone up by about 12 lakhs when compared to the draft voters' list that has only 2,61,36,776 voters.  New voters defined as electors aged between 18 and 19 account for 5,75,506.

Officials said the removal of the names of those who died, and filtering duplication of the voters could be the main reason for the reduction in the total number of voters. Over 3 lakh voters were identified as dead and nearly 5 lakh voters were found fake as their names figured in other Assembly segments. Some of the fake voters' names were same but the photos were different. 

In some cases, the names are different but photos are similar.  A few voters aged above 100 years were also identified in the list. The use of advanced technology and linking with the Registry of Birth and Deaths helped in tracing those who had died.  To rectify the fake and duplication of voters, the commission used ERO NET software. 

Out of the 11.81 lakh new voters, male voters were 5.20 lakh and the female voters 6.60 lakh. However, the total number of male voters went down to 1,37,87,920 now from 1,43,82,661 in 2014. Female voters were 1,35,28,020 now as against 1,37,81,276. Interestingly, the number of third gender voters has increased to 2,663 from 2,329 and the total number of service voters has also gone up to 9,451 from 7,781. 

Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said the publication of electoral rolls were pending in Marathi people dominated Bodh, Mudhole and Jukkal Assembly constituencies and 16 other segments where Urdu speaking voters concentrated since the voters names needs to be translated in their native language. In a week, voters’ list will be released in these constituencies also. The highest growth in voter enrollment was registered in Karimnagar and Sangareddy  Assembly segments.