Bengaluru voter strength is up by nearly 1.6 lakh; over 17,000 first-timers

BENGALURU: Nearly 1.6 lakh more Bengalureans are eligible to vote in the upcoming parliamentary polls likely to be scheduled for April-May this year. More than 10% of them, 17,686 to be precise, will be first-time voters.
With the special summary revision of electoral rolls complete, election authorities in Bengaluru are publishing the draft voters’ list on Wednesday, inviting requests for corrections, if any.

There are 89,57,750 voters in Bengaluru, including 46,76,994 men and 42,72,205 women. They are spread over 28 assembly constituencies. While three of the Bengaluru assembly segments (Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Anekal and Bengaluru South) and one (Yelahanka) are part of Bengaluru Rural and Chikkaballapura constituencies, respectively, the remaining 24 segments make up three Lok Sabha constituencies: Bengaluru South, Benglauru North and Bengaluru Central.
During the assembly polls in 2018, there were 87,98,335 voters in Bengaluru.
Bengaluru South assembly constituency has the highest number of voters at 5.9 lakh, while Shivajinagar has the least at 1.9 lakh.
Mahadevapura assembly segment saw the highest addition at 12,638. The segment also saw the maximum deletions: 14,327. Overall, 1.77 lakh names were deleted from Bengaluru voters’ list.
BBMP commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad, who is also the election officer for 28 assembly constituencies in Bengaluru Urban district, said eligible citizens who are yet to register or want to update any details can do so till the last date of filing nominations.
Speaking to TOI, BBMP’s special commissioner (elections and projects) Manoj Kumar Meena said the draft electoral roll will be published on January 16. “Once it is published, election-related staff will take up continuous updation till the last date of filing nominations for the Lok Sabha elections,” he added.
Meena said that 73,149 voters are above 19 years of age. He added: “The election staff will start programmes in all colleges to register citizens who are 18 as on January 1, 2019. We will try to enrol as many first-time voters as possible till the nominations are filed.”
Transgender voters
Bengaluru has 1,552 transgender voters. Mahadevapura assembly constituency has the highest number — 156 —transgenders, while KR Puram and Vijayanagar have 152 each. Shivajinagar has the least number of transgenders — 2— registered as voters. In the assembly elections held in May 2018, there were 1,439 transgender voters in the city. The names of 34 transgenders were deleted during the revision of rolls.