India has nearly 97 crore voters now, says EC

New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) on Friday said nearly 97 crore Indians will be eligible to vote in this year's Lok Sabha elections.

It also said over two crore young electors in age group of 18 to 29 years have been added in the voters' list.

There has been a six per cent increase in registered voters from 2019, when the last Lok Sabha polls were held. The registered voters then were 91.20 crore.

"The largest electorate in the world -– 96.88 crore are registered to vote for the forthcoming General Elections in India," the EC said.

The gender ratio has increased from 940 in 2023 to 948 in 2024, the poll panel said.

The Commission has put special emphasis on purity and health of the electoral roll along with disclosures and transparency in the revision of electoral rolls, an official pointed out.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had explained at a press conference in Pune the various tasks involved in revision of electoral rolls along with participation of political parties at every stage.

Over 2.63 crore new electors have been included in the electoral roll, out of which around 1.41 crore are women who surpassed the newly-enrolled male voters (1.22 crore) by over 15 per cent, the poll authority said.

The EC also underlined that effort were made to support persons with disabilities (PwD) by flagging around 88.35 lakh such voters in the electoral roll database. This, it said, will ensure accessibility and inclusivity on polling day.

In 2019, voters who had identified them as persons with disability stood at 45.64 lakh.

After a thorough house-to-house verification, names of over 1.65 crore deceased, permanently shifted, and duplicate electors were deleted from the electoral rolls.

"This comprehensive cleanup ensures the integrity and purity of the electoral process. It includes 67.82 lakh dead voters, 75.11 lakh permanently shifted or absent voters and 22.05 lakh duplicate voters," it said.

According to data shared by the EC, the number of third gender voters increased from 39.68 thousand in 2014 to a little over 48,000. At the same time, more than two crore young electors, spanning the 18-19 and 20-29 year age groups, have been added to the electoral roll.

Over 10.64 lakh advance applications were received from those above 17 years of age for enrolment in the voters list. People who are not yet 18 will automatically get their voter identity cards once they attain the age of voting if they apply in advance.

While 1.85 crore voters have been identified as above 80 years of age, the total number of centenarian (those who are 100 years and above) stood at 2.38 lakh. EC considers those who are 80 years and above as senior citizens.

As on February 8, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of voters at 15,30 crore. Lakshadweep has over 57,000 registered voters.

According to a 2023 letter sent by the EC to political parties, India had 17.32 crore registered voters in 1951, which rose to 19.37 crore in 1957.

In the first Lok Sabha elections the voter turnout was recorded at 45 per cent. It was 67 per cent in the last parliamentary polls in 2019.