Over a lakh first-time voters in electoral list

NEW DELHI: The number of firsttime voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years in Delhi’s electoral roll is just over a lakh, much fewer than it was supposed to be, given the fact that the age group constitutes about 3-4% of the city’s total population, the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh said Thursday.

Delhi, with a population of over 1 crore, has nearly 4-6 lakh aged 18 and 19 years, Singh said, while talking about the preparations for the Lok Sabha polls.

The CEO’S office will start a awareness drive across the city, including colleges and universities, urging the young voters to get registered in the voters’ list.

“We appeal to all first-time voters to register with us and participate in the voting exercise. We have conduced mock poll sessions in Delhi University and Iitdelhi, among others, to raise awareness. We will be holding more such camps to ensure more young voters come out and vote,” Singh said.

Also, he said all voters must themselves check their names on the electoral roll instead of believing “misleading” phone calls about deletion of names from the list. The CEO’S office said they had received around 30 such complaints about deletion of names from the electoral roll. A controversy had erupted after AAP alleged that at least 30 lakh names were deleted from electoral rolls. “A police complaint was filed,” Singh said.