Final electoral roll for J&K out with 7.72 lakh additional voters

FINAL ROLL HAS A TOTAL OF 83,59,771 VOTERS – 42,91,687 MALES, 40,67,900 FEMALES AND 184 THIRD GENDER

SRINAGAR: The final electoral roll of Jammu and Kashmir was released on Friday with the highest-ever addition of more than 7.72 lakh voters, that is 10.19% net increase of the registered electors over the draft roll, officials said.

The final electoral roll has a total of 83,59,771 voters – 42,91,687 males, 40,67,900 females and 184 third gender – joint chief electoral officer of Jammu and Kashmir Anil Salgotra said.

The release of the electoral roll paves the way for assembly elections in the Union territory, the first since Article 370 provisions were abrogated and the state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into UTS in 2019.

“There has been a net increase of 7,72,872 electors in the final electoral roll, that is 10.19% net increase of the registered electors over the draft roll,” he said.

The maximum additions during a special summary revision was less than two lakh earlier.

The elector-population ratio has increased from 0.52 to 0.58 during this special summary revision (SSR), he said. The gender ratio of the final electoral roll has increased from 921 to 948.

This was for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir that more than 11 lakh applications for inclusion in the electoral roll were received in a single SSR period, Salgotra said.

The Election Commission of India had ordered pre-revision activities in the UT on June 10, which primarily included the mapping of electoral rolls of pre and post-delimitation constituencies, rationalisation of polling stations and integrations of the electoral rolls.

An official spokesperson said the draft rolls were published on September 15, which saw the addition of 613 new polling stations, which increased the UT’S total tally to 11,370.

The spokesperson said claims and objections were accepted from September 15 to October 25. “This was followed by a period of 15 days till November 10 for the disposal of all claims and objections,” he added

He said any eligible citizen, who has been left out of the electoral roll, can apply through any of the modes of registration -- online at national voter’s service portal, voter helpline app or by submitting an application to the RO concerned.