There are 8.28 crore registered voters in Maharashtra to date, state’s chief electoral officer (CEO) Nitin Gadre said on Friday, adding that around 4.36 of them are males while 3.89 crore are females. Gadre said more than 22 lakh fresh voters have registered themselves after the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. Among them are more than a lakh voters whose names were in the “deleted voters” list. Those who have completed 18 years of age in January 2014 are eligible to register their names online in the voters list till September 17. The notification for the Assembly polls will be issued on September 20. The last date of filing papers is September 27 and scrutiny will be done on September 29. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 1. The elections will take place in single phase on October 15. The counting will be held on October 19 and the results declared the same day. Gadre said the Chief Election Commissioner of India had taken a decision to introduce Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in 13 constituencies across eight districts of the state as a model. It essentially means the voters, after casting their votes, will be able to see it for themselves on the spot who they had voted for. The select 13 Assembly constituencies where VVPAT will be introduced include Aurangabad city, Amravati, Nashik, Chandrapur, Wardha, Ahmednagar and Bhandara. The ECI will use latest electronic voting machines across 288 Assembly seats. These were procured post-2006. Gadre said efforts had been taken to ensure voting did not become a weary exercise. He said the process of issuing voter slips by the EC would begin on September 27.
