Meghalaya has 18,92,716 voters with women outnumbering men

Meghalaya has 18,92,716 voters with women outnumbering men as per the final electoral roll published on Thursday, Chief Electoral Officer, Frederick Roy Kharkongor said.

The number of women voters in Meghalaya was 9,56,137 while men was 9,36,579, he said, adding that 46,091 new voters were enrolled in the final electoral roll.

Stating that Meghalaya always have a healthy gender ratio in term of women electorate vis--vis men, Kharkongor said, "Our gender ratio is 1021 for every 1000 men, which is healthier than the 2011 Census which is at 989."

He said in term of female participation and enrolment, the state has always been of the "best in the country".

 

"As we go into the parliamentary polls, we will have a final published roll of 18,92,716 voters," the CEO said while speaking at the state level function for the final publication of electoral rolls.

He said earlier the total number of voters was 18,46,625 when the draft electoral roll was published in September last year. There are over 46,091 new voters enrolled.

He, however said that with the publishing of the final electoral roll, it does not mean that people who are not enrolled will no longer get a chance adding there is a process of updation and people who are intending voters can come forward for enrolment.

The CEO informed that preparation for the Lok Sabha elections to the Shillong and Tura parliamentary seats is on and said, "... we will all collectively work together and try to improve the poll percentage in as far as MP elections is concerned."

Admitting that urban apathy is something which needs to be addressed, the CEO said the department is contemplating to having a "queue-less voting" besides coming up with adequate measures to make it conducive for people to come and vote.

He said in the past it has been seen that people especially in the urban centres have distaste towards standing in queue.

"We are trying to explore measures like having waiting rooms and systems where voters can be informed how many people are there in the queue, etc and see how they can contribute towards having a queue-less voting," the CEO said.