Ahmedabad district lost 3.16 lakh voters as a result of a drive carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in October 2011. The ECI canceled the names of 4.82 lakh voters from the electoral roll, while it enrolled 1.67 lakh new voters during the drive.
Meanwhile, the collectorate has opened a special window for registration of voters from January 5 to January 17. The focus is on registration of young female voters in the age group of 18-25 years. The ECI will take the help of anganwadi workers to increase participation of female voters in elections.
As a result of ECI drive, the total number of voters in Ahmedabad has come down to 43.58 lakh, which is 3.16 lakh less than the earlier number of voters. The commission cancelled 4.82 lakh voters from the electoral roll on account of death, shifting to another place or repetition.
Around 13,000 people were served notices by the ECI as their names appeared in more than one constituency. The commission cancelled 40,299 voters because of their death, while 4.61 lakh voters shifted to other places.
"This rectification drive was carried out after five years, so the number of cancelled voters is quite high," said Ahmedabad district collector Vijay Nehra.
During the drive, 1.63 lakh new voters were enrolled in Ahmedabad. Of this, around 50,036 voters are in the age group of 18-19 years.
According to Nehra, earlier the electoral roll to population ratio was 67, which was higher than the national ratio of 60. "But now our electoral roll is more authentic,'' he said.
Although the window is open for registration and change in name and address in voters' list for all age groups, the commission will focus mainly on youth in general and female youth in particular. "The electoral sex ratio is 898 against general sex ratio of 910. This shows that female voters are under-registered. So we will focus more on registration of female voters in the age group of 18-25 years," said Nehra.
The anganwadi workers are in live touch with young female workers, so that they can easily get in touch with female youth voters who are left out in the electoral roll.
The voters can visit 'Voters' Help Desk' at the collector office for registration or alteration in the electoral roll during this special drive. Moreover, they can get the change done at their respective booths on January 8, said Nehra.
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