Prakasam district administration is gearing up to enrol new voters given the upcoming general elections next year. The move comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI) directed state governments to begin enrolling new voters and take up corrections in existing voter lists from June 1, 2023. To note, the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh will also be held in 2024, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
As part of a special action plan, officials will take support of management at all government and private (degree and engineering) colleges to enrol young voters at the time of admissions. Help desks will be set up so that eligible students can fill out Form-6 and submit it on the spot.
Further, the district administration will focus on the 18+ age group. Emphasis will also be laid on the 20-29 age group, who are mostly software engineers and young entrepreneurs settled in other cities. In the 20-29 age group, there are 5,04,263 people in the district.
However, only 3,09,481 have been enrolled as voters. Therefore, officials are stepping up efforts to ensure the remaining 1.95 lakh youngsters also enrol to get a voter ID. To this effect, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have been instructed to visit every house and ensure people who don't have voter IDs apply for them.
Officials also conducted the survey by considering Jagananna Vidya Deevana beneficiaries to identify students who have attained 18 years of age. They learnt that 56,467 youngsters are 18 years old. However, so far only 17,714 youngsters have submitted Form-6.
On the ECI's directions, we are going to enrol new voters by conducting special drives at various degree and engineering colleges. Help desks will be set up at colleges and BLOs will collect information on eligible students for enrolling them onto the voters' list, an official at the collectorate explained.
