Himachal Assembly Election 2022: 1.93 Lakh First-Time Voters Among 55.92 Lakh Eligible Electors

Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg said the voters includes 27,37,845 women, 28,54,945 men and 38 third gender, with 67,559 of them service electors and 22 NRIs.

File photo of people standing in a queue to cast their vote at a polling station in Himachal's Arki during the 2017 assembly elections.

Source : Getty

A total of 55,92,828 electors have been listed as eligible to exercise their franchise in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls scheduled to be conducted on November 12 this year. Making the announcement Wednesday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg said the voters includes 27,37,845 women, 28,54,945 men and 38 third gender, with 67,559 of them service electors and 22 NRIs.

Garg said there are 701 electors per polling station on an average.

A total of 56,501 electors in the state are persons with disabilities (PwD). With the Election Commission making "continuous efforts", the CEO said, 500 new PwD electors were added or flagged after the final publication of the photo electoral roll.

The new electors include 1.93 lakh people aged 18-19 years, who will be voting in the assembly elections for the first time.

Before the fresh figures were announced, Himachal had a total of 55,07,261 voters — 27,80,208 male and 27,27,016 female.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had earlier said youngsters now get four chances in a year to enrol as a new voter. Instead of a single qualifying date, there are four such dates every year now for eligibility to register as a voter.

There are a total of 68 assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh, and the state will have a single-phase polling. The counting of votes will take place on December 8.

The last date for filing nominations was October 25, and the last date for withdrawal of names is October 29.

The scrutiny of nomination papers is underway in all 68 assembly seats. According to official figures, a total of 561 candidates, including independents and those from various political parties, have filed their nominations. 

According to an AIR news report, the Election Commission has started polling rehearsals and preparations for the elections, and the first rehearsal was held at various places in the state Wednesday, during which polling personnel were given information related to the voting process. 

With inputs from IANS