Now, youths can apply for voter ID at 17!

New Delhi, July 28: Youths above 17 years of age can now apply in advance for having their names enrolled in Voter's list and do not have to wait till they attain the age of 18, the Election Commission of India said on Thursday.

"Youngsters above 17 years of age can now apply in advance for having their names enrolled in Voter's list and not necessarily have to await the pre-requisite criterion of attaining the age of 18 years on 1st January of a year," the ECI said in a statement.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey have directed the CEOs/EROs/AEROs of all States to work out tech-enabled solutions such that the youth are facilitated to file their advance applications.

Henceforth, the Electoral Roll will be updated every quarter and eligible youngsters can be registered in the next quarter of the year in which he/she has attained the qualifying age of 18 years. After getting registered, he/she will be issued an Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), the ECI claimed.

For the current round of annual revision of electoral roll, 2023, any citizen attaining the age of 18 years by April 1, July 1 and October 1 of 2023 can also submit an advance application for registration as a voter from the date of draft publication of electoral roll.

As per existing policy, revision of electoral rolls with reference to 1st January of the coming year as the qualifying date was done normally in the later part of each year in all States/UTs (normally in the last quarter of a year) so that final publication of the electoral rolls is made in the first week of January of the succeeding year. This meant that a large number of young persons who completed 18 years after 1st January had to wait for Special Summary Revision of the next year for enrolment and were not able to participate in elections held in the intervening period.