In a decision that will impact at least 2.50-lakh youths, the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) guidelines say that those born after January 1, 1995 would not be able to vote for the Assembly polls on December 4 despite attaining eligibility.
This means that a person born on January 1, 1995 will be eligible to enroll in the voter list and vote in the Assembly polls, but a person born on January 2, would not be eligible for enrolment in the voter list.
In other words, a person who has attained the age of 18 years, 11 months and three days, is eligible to vote but a person who is 18 years, 11 months and two-days-old, is not eligible to enrol in the voter list. According to the electoral rolls of Delhi, out of the 1.18-crore voters, 4,05,850 are first-time voters and they are nearly 19-years-old. The ECI has fixed January 1, 2013 as the qualifying date for revision of electoral rolls for Delhi Assembly polls on December 4. It is estimated that at least 2.60-lakh youths who attained 18 years of age after January 1, 2013, would not be able to vote as their names are not in the voter’s list.
Reacting to this, a BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity that it’s a great anomaly in the ECI’s guidelines if 2.50-lakh youths are denied enrolment despite eligibility. When asked, Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev said the electoral office is following the guidelines of the ECI in this regard.
“As per the ECI guidelines on enrolment of voters, for an election to be held in a particular year, only an individual who has attained the age of 18 years on January 1, of that particular year is eligible to be enroled in the voter list. So, for Delhi Assembly elections 2013, anybody who was 18 years of age as on January 1, 2013 can be enrolled as a voter. Anybody who turned 18 after that cut-off date can be included only in the voter rolls of 2014,” Dev said.
The Chief Electoral Officer further stated that consequently, all individuals turning 18 between January 2, 2013 and November 6, 2013 (cut off date for inclusion in rolls of 2013 elections) cannot be included in this year’s electoral rolls. “If these voters are also included (whose number is almost 2.60 lakh ), the number of voters in the age group of 18 and 19 years is almost equal to the population in this age-group thereby indicating the huge turn-out of youth in coming out and getting themselves enrolled,” Dev said.
The CEO said there were only 93,811 youths enrolled in the voter list on October 15, 2012. The number of first-time voters has increased to 4,05850 on November 18, 2013. As per data, constituencies like Kirari, Karawal Nagar, Mustafabad, Gokulpuri, Sultanpur Majra, Matiala and Delhi Cantonment have the highest number of first-time voters who have enrolled in the voter list in 2013.