Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi: ‘The gender ratio in 18-19 voter group in Gujarat is very low, at 660. Young female voters are not getting enrolled’

As per draft electoral rolls published on August 12, there are 4.83 crore eligible voters. This includes 2.5 crore male and 2.33 crore female voters. There were 4.35 crore eligible voters in the 2017 Assembly elections.

We started a Special Summary Revision (SSR) on August 12. At the end of the month-long process, we expect to add 3 to 4 lakh more voters. Voters can check their names in the draft electoral roll during this period and make changes if needed. The final lists will be published on October 10.

What are some of the challenges you are facing in the run-up to the polls?

One of the challenges that we see is in the enrolment of first-time voters. The numbers in the age group of 18-19 years should be 3.66% of the total voters. But we are currently at 1%. The SSR being carried out currently is focused on enrolling the maximum number of voters in the 18-19 age group.

In 2017, there were nine districts with low number of female voters. Have there been difficulties in enrolling female voters for these polls?

The gender ratio of Gujarat as per the Census is 918 and the electoral roll’s gender ratio is 934.

However, the gender ratio in the 18-19 voter group is very low, at 660. It means that for every 1,000 male voters, there are only 660 female voters, and that young female voters are not getting enrolled. The lowest gender ratio in this category is in the Banaskantha district, at 553 female voters. Others are: Gandhinagar (562), Kheda (572), Ahmedabad (590) and Anand (594).

Across age groups, the gender ratio is the lowest in Surat, where there are 858 female voters, followed by Surendranagar (915), Banaskantha (918), Ahmedabad (921) and Patan (930).

How is AI being used to weed out duplicate voters?

The Election Commission has given us a complete list of voters. There are two types of duplicate entries: demographically similar entries and photographically similar entries. The software generates a list of such entries where names, addresses and photos of individual voters appear similar to each other. They are then checked, reconfirmed with voters, and deleted.

We did a good job of deleting such similar entries between January and June this year. It is part of electoral roll purification.

The EC wanted voters to link their Aadhaar cards with voter ID cards. How many voters have done so?

From August 2022 to now, 1.4 lakh voters have linked their voter identity cards with their Aadhaar cards. This is a voluntary exercise. This activity can easily be done online. As we are currently a poll-going state, we are yet to push it.

In the 2017 polls, the Returning Officer at Dholka was taken to court for breach of election rules… How is the EC ensuring that events like these do not happen?

The only way to ensure there are no mistakes is to train our officers. We have already finalised the Returning Officers and have begun training.

How many EVMs and VVPATs will be used for the polls?

We have allocated 51,782 polling stations, 172 more than the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Every booth will roughly have an average of 1,500 voters.

As far as EVMs are concerned, we have received 91,587 ballot units, 82,509 control units and 89,405 VVPAT devices. These numbers are more than our current requirement. We are placed comfortably.

We have completed first-level checks in eight districts and found rejections to be 5-8%. The remaining districts will be covered by the first week of September.

Freebies have become a point of discussion in this election. What is the EC’s stand?

The model code of conduct will come into force only after notification of the election dates.

How many national parties will be contesting from Gujarat? What is the status of the Aam Aadmi Party?

There are six national parties in Gujarat (the BJP, Congress, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPM). The AAP is not a recognised national party yet (Six per cent of the valid votes in Assembly / Lok Sabha elections in four or more states is necessary to be recognised as a national party, among other rules).

How do you plan to encourage more voter turnout?

There is a 10-point agenda called ‘Avsaar’ that we are working on to ensure higher voter turnout. We are focusing on polling booths that had recorded a low turnout during the last elections and working on easing the process of registration of voters.