Kerala Votes: 2.71 Crore Electors to Shape 140 Assembly Seats on April 9
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Thiruvananthapuram, March 15 (NationPress) As Kerala prepares for elections on April 9, a staggering 2.71 crore voters will cast their votes across 140 Assembly constituencies. This announcement was made by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday during a press conference in New Delhi, where they laid out the election timeline including key dates for nomination filing, document scrutiny, withdrawal of nominations, polling, and vote counting.
With this announcement, the Model Code of Conduct has been activated statewide.
The elections will utilize the final electoral roll, which was officially published on February 20 following a Special Intensive Revision, as stated by Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U. Kelkar.
Kelkar, who has scheduled a meeting with all political party representatives for Monday at 3 p.m., remarked, “We are fully prepared for the elections.”
The updated voter rolls indicate that women continue to surpass men in voter numbers within the state. Of the total electorate, approximately 1.31 crore are men, while 1.38 crore are women, demonstrating Kerala’s ongoing trend of a larger female voter demographic.
The final electoral list also features 2,23,558 overseas voters registered as Pravasi electors.
Officials have confirmed that the electoral roll was published after consultations with various political party representatives. The revision process included hearings and verifications throughout all 140 Assembly constituencies.
During this exercise, 53,229 names were removed from the draft roll following thorough checks. These deletions included voters who passed away during the enumeration, individuals who acquired foreign citizenship, those who moved out of their constituencies, and cases of name duplication.
Conversely, the revision drive saw a substantial influx of new voters. Between October 27 last year and January 30 this year, the Commission processed 13,51,151 applications submitted via Form 6 for new voter registration.
Additionally, 1,59,111 applications from expatriates seeking to register as overseas voters under Form 6A were approved. Overall, the Election Commission handled 24,28,639 applications concerning both inclusion and removal during the revision period, alongside 3,93,333 forms accepted for updating existing voter details.
Now that the election schedule is set, it’s anticipated that political parties will ramp up their preparations for what is expected to be a highly competitive Assembly election.