Between August 1 and September 6, when new voters in poll-bound Bihar could register with the Election Commission (EC), the poll body received 16.57 lakh applications in all. Of these applications, the EC has published on its website data of only 2.42 lakh so far. Of the 2.42 lakh new applicants, 1.28 lakh are men, 1.13 lakh are women, and eight are transgender.
The most striking finding is that just over a quarter of these new applicants – 66,279 or 27.4% – are aged 18 to 20 years, who would not have been eligible to become voters in the last count. Of the 66,279 new applicants, 41,410 are men and 24,867 women.
The applicants between the ages of 21 and 25 years are 77,498 (41,365 men and 36,131 women) or 32% of all applicants. The largest chunk of applicants are those aged 26 to 50 years, accounting for 78,813 voters (43,427 women and 35,383 men) or 33% of all applicants.
Voters who did not figure in the draft roll released by the EC as part of its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise could also apply for enrolment under Form 6. But the EC data does not give details regarding this.
There are also 28 people above 100 years of age who have applied to become “first-time” electors. Among them is one applicant from the Darbhanga district whose records show she is 132 years old. There are also at least two voters who have reported their age as over 120 years.
Asked about ‘centurions’ applying to become first-time voters, a source in the EC said: “Scrutiny of their applications does not tell us if they have applied for the first time to become voters. It is quite possible that these people shifted from one place to another and are applying to become voters again.”
