More than a lakh women register as first-time voters

Following a special voters’ registration drive, over three lakh voters registered in the district, including an unprecedented 1.2 lakh women

As many as 1,20,000 women registered as first-time voters within 20 days of a voters’ registration drive conducted by the district election department in June. According to department officials, the unprecedented numbers are due to their systematic efforts to appeal to women in the city.

Women count: The district election department made special attempts to reach out to women through workshops and banners, resulting in an unprecedented 1.2 lakh new women voters. File pic

Around 3.04 lakh people registered during the drive, increasing the total number of voters in Pune district to 68.65 lakh.
The registration drive came after a hue and cry was raised over missing voters’ names during the Lok Sabha elections.
Apart from re-registering the names of those who were deleted from the system during the election, the district election department reached out to citizens, especially women, to invite first-timers to register as voters.

“It was due to our systematic efforts to increase the ratio of women voters, as many of them couldn’t vote in Lok Sabha election due to the deletion of names from the voters’ list. Similarly, we also wanted that new voters would come forward in huge numbers, therefore we conducted awareness workshops in various colleges and IT companies to appeal to women to register in the voters’ list,” said Tahsildar (Pune District Collectorate), Seema Holkar.

She added that the officials in department also reached out to various domestic workers’ organisations to spread awareness about voters’ registration.

“Besides, hoardings and banners giving information about the voter’s registration drive were also displayed at the various locations in the city. These collective efforts resulted in the huge response to the drive, especially from women,” Holkar said.
The final list of voters will be published on July 31, while another drive for voters’ registration will begin on August 1.

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