Thane becomes first district to register 2.25L first-time voters

Awareness drives on a large scale undertaken by the district administration in the last four months to register voters seems to have borne results in Thane district. The district recently registered a record 2.25 lakh first-time voters making it the first district in the entire state to register such a high number followed by Mumbai with 2 lakh new voters.

Since the month of September, the Thane district administration in tandem with the civic corporation undertook an incessant voter registration drive. "The respective municipal corporations and the collectorate ensured that maximum people were enrolled for their voters identity card," said Farog Mukadam, election officer, Thane district.

"There is an overall 4 per cent increase in the number of voters in the district with the total being 58,16,314 voters," added Mukadam. Normally, during election time there is always an increase of 2 per cent in voter registration.

"But this time we started enrollment even before civic elections and thus, the number have increased by 4 per cent," said Mukadam.

The efforts included special drives in junior colleges, awareness camps and opening registration kiosks at schools. "We kept registration booths at schools where people could visit and get their names registered instead of going to the election commission office," she said. Registration booths were also kept at the regional transport office (RTO) for the convenience of people visiting the RTO for license related work.

While the administration has done its job by enrolling maximum number people in the voters' list, it is upto the people to cast their vote. "We have already encouraged youngsters to exercise their right to vote," she adds.

On national voters day i.e. January 25, an awareness drive was organised in Thane. At the event, celebrities like Ameesha Patel and Marathi actress Sampada Joglekar urged students to vote and post their selfies.