Almost 93% in 18 to 19 year age group in Maharashtra not registered as voters | Mumbai News

MUMBAI: Almost 93% of 18-19 year-olds in Maharashtra are not registered as voters according to the latest draft revision of the state’s electoral roll published on Friday. Even more worrying, the figure is lower than it was on January 5, when the last final electoral roll was published. At that time, 84.5% of 18-19 year olds were not in the voters list.
The number of voters in the 18-19 years age group in the latest draft roll is 3.5 lakh.In January, it was 6.7 lakh.

Even the 20-29 years age group shows low voter registration, with 40% of the segment not on the voter list. The ratio is lower than in January when 30% of this population was unregistered.
According to the draft electoral roll, the state has 9 crore voters, an addition of 5.7 lakh since January. Male voters amount to 4.7 crore while female voters are 4.3 crore. The gender has improved from 915 to 917 in the draft roll. The number of transgender voters has risen from 4,717 to 4,920.
The final electoral roll ahead of the Lok Sabha polls will be published on January 5, 2024. From now till December 9, the state’s chief electoral office will be conducting a drive to register voters.
The poor registration of young voters is a matter of concern, says the state’s chief electoral officer Shrikant Deshpande. “On one hand we claim to be a nation of youth but their number in the voter list is dismal,” says Deshpande.
“The 18-19 years age group is 3.7% of the total population but its only 0.3% of the voter’s list for October 2023. The 20-29 years age group is 20.3% of the population but only 12.3% in the voter’s list,” he points out.
However, he says the numbers in the 18-19 years and 20-29 years age group may have declined compared to January because the state still has to conduct its final campaign to register voters.
The state’s chief electoral office will be conducting campaigns in colleges as well as industries to increase the number of young voters. “For the 20-29 years age group, many are employed with industries so we will be contacting industries associations,” said Deshpande.
Deshpande said the draft electoral roll had been published on the website of the chief electoral officer for Maharashtra and the public should check for their name and if there are mistakes. Those seeking to register should access the voter helpline app, he said.