LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh, which has a projected population of 1. 4 crore in the age group of 15-17 years for targeted vaccination programmes, has only 19. 89 lakh youngsters in the 18-19 year category who have registered themselves as first-time voters for the upcoming state assembly elections.
UP’s chief electoral officer (CEO) Ajay Kumar Shukla on Wednesday said that the state has registered 15. 02 crore voters out of whom 52. 8 lakh voters have been enrolled for the first time.
“At least 14. 66 lakh voters in the age group of 18-19 years have been registered in the recent campaign. With this, the total number of registered voters in the category has gone up to 19. 89 lakh. While 10. 62
lakh are male, 9. 26 lakh are female voters,” the CEO said. According to census projections (2021) for Covid-19 vaccination drive, there are 1. 4 crore youngsters in UP in the age group of 15-17 years. Responding to a TOI query as to why the registration of first-time voters was low, the CEO said, “We tried to cover as much population as we could. ”
‘Max 1st-time voters in Prayagraj, least in Shamli’
“We ran campaigns and motivated the youth to get themselves enrolled for voter ID cards, but only a few turned up. However, we will continue our efforts to increase voter enrollment,” added the CEO.
As per the ECI data, Prayagraj recorded highest number of first-time voters (62,068), followed by Ghazipur (60,448), Aligarh (48,748), Bareilly (47,406), Azamgarh (46,604), Badaun (45,497), Jaunpur (43,333), Lakhimpur Kheri (42,911) and Bulandshahr (42,129). Lucknow registered 35,044 first-time voters.
Shamli recorded the least number of first-time voters (10,550) preceded by Hamirpur (10,658), Mahoba (10,671), Baghpat (10,802) and Chitrakoot (10,861).
The Election Commission claimed to have registered 10. 64 lakh speciallyabled voters and 24. 03 lakh in the age group of over 80 years of age. ECI also registered 39,598 voters who were100 years or above, and are likely to vote in the upcoming election.
“We have removed 21. 4 lakh people whose credentials were dubious. Names of 10 lakh people were struck off the list as it was found that they were not alive. We also removed 7. 94 lakh duplicate voters and 3. 32 lakh others who have shifted out of the state,” the CEO said. A senior ECI official, who did not wish to be named, said: “Artificial intelligence was used to remove voters with dubious credentials. Names and images were matched to remove such voters. ”
