Six-fold jump in voters in India since 1951; total electorate count crosses 94 crore

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 5

There has been a six-fold jump in the number of electorates since 1951 to over 94.50 crore this year. The total number of voters on January 1 stands at 94,50,25,694.

However, one-third of them did not participate in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, officials said. This voters’ apathy has prompted the Election Commission (EC) to walk the extra mile to bring them to the polling booths, they said.

In 1951, when the voter lists for the first General Election were prepared, India had 17.32 crore registered electors and 45.67 per cent had turned up to exercise their franchise in the new republic, according to the commission’s data.

The number of registered electors witnessed a gradual increase over the years, and so did their participation in the subsequent elections.

In the 1957 General Election, the number of registered electors was 19.37 crore and 47.74 per cent cast their ballots to send their representatives to the Lok Sabha, the data showed. People’s participation in the election process breached the 50 per cent-mark for the first time in 1962 General Election, when 55.42 per cent of the 21.64 crore voters exercised their franchise.

By 2009, the total number of registered voters had zoomed to 71.70 crore but the turnout to the polling booths was only 58.21 per cent. The 2014 General Election saw the turnout of voters jump to 66.44 per cent of the 83.40 crore registered voters.