First time voters to play decisive role in LS pollsHimachal is set to add 62, 133 first time voters

Even as political parties are coaxing with the electorates across Himachal for the Lok Sabha election, they must have set their eyes on first time voters, who will be granted the franchise rights by the state Election Commission on National Voter's Day on January 25.

This Voter's Day, the state is set to add 62, 133 first time voters in bracket of 18 to 19 years of age.

Though the women and the youth hold the key to polls; the first time voters - considering their decisive number - have potential to make an impact on the results.
However, both main political parties - the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - have been failed in providing adequate representation to both the women and the youth in the Vidhan Sabha despite their decisive numbers as electorates.

In the 68-seat Himachal assembly - Congress- 36; BJP- 26 and others 6 - there are only eight legislators below 40 years of age - Congress - 5; BJP - 2 and one is Independent.

Similarly, there are only three women legislators in the assembly - two from Congress and one from BJP.

The Congress women legislators are - irrigation and public health minister Vidya Stokes and Asha Kumar, while the BJP's only legislator is former social justice minister Sarveen Chaudhary.

This paltry representation is simply an ignorance of the fact that nearly half of the voters in the state are below 40 years of age, while the women electorates somewhat have similar in percentage. Of the total 46, 74, 185 registered general voters, 48.04% are below 40 years and 48.86% are women.

Tribal district Lahul and Spiti have as many as 22, 446 voters, of which over 50% are women. As per the state Election Commission record, there are 11,220 men voters while 11,226 are women in the district.

Hamirpur is another district having decisive 50.98% chunk of women electorates. There are as many as 3, 56, 567 electorates in Hamirpur, of which 1, 74, 768 are men and the rest 1, 81, 759 are women.

Hamirpur district has five assembly constituencies dominated by women voters, including Bhoranj 51.61%, Sujanpur 51.76%, Hamirpur 50.11%, Barsar 51.13% and Nadaun 50.36%.
In Kangra district, Dehra has 50.16% women voters, Jaisinghpur 51.63% and Sulah 50.65%.

While in Mandi district, Jogindernagar has 50.57% women electorates, Dharmpur 51.27%, Mandi 50.59%, Balh 50.17% and Sarkaghat 50.30%.

On the whole, there are more than 50% women voters in Mandi district, of which 23, 90, 116 are male and 22, 84, 067 female, including two Non-Residential Indian (NRI) and two others.

Of the total 65, 201 registered service (defence) voters, only 15,037 are women.

According to an Election Commission record, there are 62, 133 voters between 18 and 19 years who will cast their votes for the first time, while 10, 22, 690 voters are between 20 and 29 years of age. However, the highest number of voters (11, 60, 638) are between 30 and 39 years of age.

On January 6, the state Election Commission published the revised electoral roll for the general elections. On the occasion, an EC official said a total of 93, 638 new voters had been registered, of which 41,552 were deleted due to death, migration and dual registration. “There is an increase of 52,086 voters,” said he.

According to the EC, the Sulah assembly constituency of Kangra district has the highest 88, 585 voters, while the tribal Lahul and Spiti assembly segment has the lowest 22, 446 voters.