As many as 2.67 crore voters, including nearly three lakh first-time voters, will be exercising their franchise during the assembly polls in Kerala, which are likely to be held in April this year. Releasing the final list of voters, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Teeka Ram Meena said that there are 2,67,31,509 registered voters in the state, including 2.99 lakh voters in the18-19 age group who would be participating in the election process for the first time. The maximum number of young voters are in Kozhikode district, Meena said.
Till December 31, 2021, 10 lakh people had filed applications to add their names in the electoral rolls. "We got around 10 lakh applications from voters seeking addition of their names in the voters list. We have not closed the online process of accepting applications and people can enrol their names till 10 days before the withdrawal of nominations," he said.
The names of at least 1.56 lakh people who have passed away or have shifted, have been deleted from the list during the revision. Of the total number of voters, 1,37,79,263 are women. There are 221 transgender persons in the list.
Malappuram accounts for the maximum number of voters-- 32,14,943, including 16,7000 women voters. The least number is in Wayanad-- 6,7068.
While there are 90,709 NRI voters, as many as 6.21 lakh voters are over 80, the Chief Electoral Officer added.
Though it was initially announced that the elections will take place in two phases, Meena later said that the polls will likely be held in one phase now. An official decision regarding the same will be announced by February 15 or the end of the month, he added. The tenure of the incumbent Left Democratic Front government, headed by the CPI(M), will end on June 1. The Pinarayi Vijayan government assumed power on May 25, 2016.
Meena further announced that there will be 40,771 polling stations in the state.