Rise in voters in Bengal: 11.14 lakh first-time voters in final electoral roll 2015

Kolkata, Jan 8: The number of voters in West Bengal has gone up to 6.37 crore, an increase of 13.14 lakh, according to the final electoral roll released this week.

This represented a growth of about 2.11% over the draft electoral roll. "The total number of electors in the final roll stands at 6,37,35,915 against 6,24,21,579 in the draft roll," Joint Chief Electoral Officer Jaydip Mukherjee said after the new updated voters' list was released.

The final voters' list was the result of a special summary revision of the draft roll undertaken last October by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer.

Out of this, male voters in the final roll increased to 3,31,06,069 and female voters to 3,06,29,238 from a total number of male and female voters in draft roll at 3,24,66,424 and 2,99,54,656 respectively, Mukherjee said.

Electors under third gender category also registered a growth from 499 in the draft roll to 608 in the final roll during the special summary revision.

Of the 13.14 lakh new inclusion in the final roll, around 11.14 lakh are first-time voters who turned 18 on January 1, 2015. The electors within the age-group of 18 to 19 constitute 3.04% of the total number of electors in the final roll, a drop from 3.33% in 2014, Mukherjee said.

Out of this, the minority-dominated Malda district accounted for the highest rise at 3.47%. This was followed by Coochbehar at 3.35%, Darjeeling at 3.32%, South Dinajpur at 2.64%, North 24-Parganas at 2.63%, Jalpaiguri 2.61%, North Dinajpur at 2.60%, Purulia at 2.56%, Howrah at 2.31%, Murshidabad at 2.24%, Hooghly at 1.99%, Birbhum at 1.94%, West Midnapore and Bankura at 1.74%, South 24-Parganas at 1.73%, East Midnapore at 1.70%, Burdwan at 1.62% and Nadia at 1.39%.

Kolkata North and Kolkata South have registered the lowest growth at less than 1%, the statistics available from the CEO's office said.

PTI