India nears 1 bn voters, with youth, women driving electoral growth: EC

Electoral rolls show gender balance improving and youth forming a key voter base

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The number of voters in India now stands at 991 million, up from 968.8 million when the Lok Sabha elections were held last year, the Election Commission (EC) said on Wednesday.

In a statement issued ahead of National Voters' Day, the EC said the electoral rolls bear a youthful and gender-balanced look with 217 million young electors in the 18-29 age group and a six-point increase in electoral gender ratio from 948 in 2024 to 954 in 2025.

National Voters' Day is celebrated on January 25 every year to mark the foundation day of the EC, which was established on this day in 1950.

Addressing a press conference here on January 7 to announce the Delhi assembly poll schedule, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said India would soon create a new record of one billion-plus voters.

"Electoral rolls were released yesterday (January 6). We are crossing 990 million voters... We are going to be a nation of one billion voters very soon, which will be another record in voting," he said.

"After the declaration of SSR (special summary revision) by Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Punjab, which will be declaring SSR results today, we will be crossing 990 million voters for the first time," the CEC said, adding, "The number of women voters is also going to be around 480 million.