The state shows maximum increase in number of voters among the five states where assembly elections are being held
Sunday, 06 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The Himalayan state of Uttarakhand has reported a whopping increase of 30 per cent in the number of electors in the last ten years. The state ranks in the first position among the five states of Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Goa where the elections are currently being held.
In its report on the assembly elections, ‘Decadal electoral growth and demographic challenge 2012- 2022’, the Social Development for Communities (SDC) foundation conducted a comparative analysis of the five states from the elections of 2012 to 2022. It found that while 30 per cent increase in electors has occurred in Uttarakhand the increase in Punjab was 21 per cent. In Uttar Pradesh the electors increased by 18-19 per cent, Manipur 14 per cent while Goa recorded an increase of only 13 per cent.
There were 63,77,330 electors in Uttarakhand in the year 2012 which jumped to 82,66,644 in the assembly elections of 2022.
The founder of SDC foundation Anoop Nautiyal said that the alarming increase in the number of electors in Uttarakhand raises many questions.
He said that the number of voters in the urban areas has increased at a very high rate. Nautiyal said that some portion of the increase in the number of electors in the districts of Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Dehradun and Nainital districts could be of the people who have migrated from the mountainous areas but it is not possible that this only accounted for a whopping 30 per cent increase in electors. He said that the state administration should take notice and investigate the possibility of a planned influx of people from other states to Uttarakhand. “Is making voter card and Aadhar card easy in Uttarakhand? We need to investigate and assess the situation and ponder over its possible repercussions,’’ he said.
Expressing apprehension that the sudden increase in the number of electors could be due to the fact that urban local body elections in Uttarakhand are due in the next one and half years. Uttarakhand has eight Municipal corporations of Dehradun, Haridwar, Roorkee, Rishikesh, Kotdwar, Haldwani, Kashipur and Rudrapur.
Elaborating further on the study released in the report, Nautiyal said that on the basis of the number of electors (82.66 Lakh) in the electoral rolls and the number of beneficiaries ( 6.28 lakh) of Covid-19 vaccination in the age group of 15 to 18 years suggests that the population of the state is about 1.35 crore. It proves that the decadal increase in the state is more than 35 per cent.
