Karnataka voters in numbers: 35% more electors in 80-plus age bracket, first-time voters up 9%

From 77.74 lakh in 2018 to 94.76 lakh this year, the state added a total of 17.01 lakh senior citizen electors. In this category, the age group of 80 plus saw an increase of 3.13 lakh, amounting to 34.76%. Electors aged between 70 and 79 years went up by 5.95 lakh, or 25.97%, while the 60-69 age group saw an increase of 7.92 lakh, or 17.3%.

Electors in the brackets of 40-49 years and 50-59 years also increased, by 9.63% and 15.34% respectively. At the same time, the number of voters in the 20-29 years and 30-39 years categories decreased 10.47% and 2.66% respectively.

Asked about the decrease in the two age groups, Karnataka Special Officer (Elections) Surya Sen AV said the population growth in the last five years should be taken into account along with the deletion activities by the CEO’s office to update the electoral rolls.

Of the total electors, there are 2.39 crore voters aged between 18 and 39 years. The state has 2.66 crore male electors, 2.63 crore female electors, and 4,927 electors who chose the “others” category, referring to transpersons. A total of 5.71 lakh people with disabilities have also enrolled to vote.

According to the officer, the drive to enrol first-time voters led to an increase of electors in the 18-19 age category. From 4.01 lakh in the final electoral roll of 2022, their numbers have increased to 11.71 lakh. According to the official, the drive looked at data from schools and colleges, and on births between 2002 and 2005, and compared it to the district-level data of electors.

Karnataka will go to polls in a single phase for all 224 Assembly constituencies on May 10, with results on May 13. While announcing the election schedule on March 29, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar flagged “youth apathy”, “urban apathy” and the use of “money power” as challenges in the state.