9.7 crore new voters added in the electoral rolls during 2009-14 period

The Election Commission of India added 9.7 crore new voters in the electoral list during 2009-14 period or since 2009 Lok Sabha polls. It resulted into 13.5 percent rise in the list of national voters countrywide.

The announcement was made on 5 February 2014 by the Election Commission after finalizing the list on 31 January 2014.

Percentage wise growth in electoral list

•    When viewed from percentage point of view Tamil Nadu successfully achieved the highest growth with 29.3 percent rise in the enrollment of new voters during 2009 - 14 period. The growth of Tamil Nadu is higher than national average.
•    Tamil Nadu is followed by Haryana registering 28 percent growth, Madhya Pradesh (25 percent) and West Bengal (19 percent).
•    Interestingly, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh had shown a decline in voters of around 11.9 percent, 1.9 percent and 0.7 percent respectively between the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Growth in electoral list in absolute terms

•    In absolute terms, Uttar Pradesh registered the maximum growth by adding 1.8 crore voters to its rolls during 2009 - 14 period.
•    It is followed by Maharashtra added the largest number of voters followed by West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.

Growth in electoral list: Big States vis-a-vis Smaller States

•    The big states with double-digit growth in the size of their electorate since the 2009 Lok Sabha polls are Uttar Pradesh (15.5 percent), Uttarakhand (15.3 percent), Rajasthan (14.2 percent), Bihar (13.9 percent), Chhattisgarh (13 percent) and Punjab (11.8 percent).
•    Among the smaller states, Meghalaya showed a 21 percent rise in the number of voters, followed by Puducherry (15.8 percent) and Tripura (14.4 percent).

Growth in electoral list among UTs

•    The electorate in Union Territories (UTs) also grew, with Chandigarh adding 11.5 percent voters since 2009 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli 25 percent.
•    Delhi registered a 9 percent increase in its electorate since 2009, with the 2014 electoral rolls, to be used for the coming general election, showing 1.21 crore voters.

Causes for increase in electoral list

Election Commission of India had launched the voter awareness campaigns like SVEEP (The Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation) Wing and YUVA (Youth United for Voter Awareness).

The campaigns was aimed to formulates policies and to lays down the framework. It handles work related to all aspects of Voters’ Awareness & Education aimed towards improving Electoral Participation in the country and building up a culture of participative democracy among citizens.

 The SVEEP Wing commenced work in 2009.