India General Elections 2024: 986.8 million people registered to vote, says Election Commission

The Election Commission of India announced on Friday that there will be nearly 986.8 million Indian voters who can cast ballots in the Lok Sabha elections this year.

Additionally, it stated that the voter list now includes nearly two crore young voters, or those between the ages of 18 and 29.

Since the previous Lok Sabha elections in 2019, there has been a six per cent rise in the number of registered voters.

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" With 986.8 million registered voters, India has the largest electorate in the world for the next general elections," the Election Commission said.

According to the poll panel, the gender ratio grew from 940 in 2023 to 948 in 2024.

"The Commission has placed a particular focus on the integrity and health of the electoral roll in addition to disclosures and openness during the revision process," added the Election Commission.

The electoral roll now has almost 2 crore new young voters in the 18–19 and 20–29 age groups. In order to encourage increased civic engagement among the younger population, Special Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) have been formed at the constituency level to facilitate youth enrolment directly from educational institutions.

Efforts have also been undertaken to assist voters with disabilities (PwD) by designating around 8.835 million PwD voters in the electoral roll database, guaranteeing accessibility and inclusiveness on election day.

In an effort to make the electoral rolls the most inclusive to date, special efforts have been made to register all Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG).

Rajiv Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), detailed the several tasks associated with updating the electoral rolls and the involvement of political parties at each step during a news conference in Pune.

(With inputs from agencies)