Bhubaneswar: With Odisha bracing for general and Assembly elections, 3.38 lakh newly added names of young voters set to feature in the state electoral rolls before the polls, may turn out to be game changer for political parties.
This figure of new electors in the 18-19 years age group, who will make their debut on the list this year, is the second highest in recent times, say officials who were engaged in the revision of rolls. The figure was 10.51 lakh last year.
The final list is being uploaded to the central pool of voters’ identity, and it will be made official soon.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mona Sharma at a press meet here on Wednesday said, “The new demographic is owed to the intensive campaigning across the state to rally the youth. We are observing National Voters’ Day on January 25 during which colour electoral photo identity cards (EPIC) will be distributed to new voters.”
Sharma stated, while total number of photo electors in the state stands at nearly 2.89 crore, as many as 4,27,777 males and 4,56,489 females were added to the electoral rolls in the last revision programme held in last April.
“During the revision programme, a total of 4,08,686 names are deleted which were either enrolled twice or are continuing after the death,” the official stated.
Informing about the fresh enrolment in the electoral rolls she said eligible persons who have not yet enrolled themselves can apply in Form-6 for addition of name.
Applications for addition of name can be made up to 10 days before the last date of nomination, she clarified.