Bengaluru now has whopping 91 lakh voters!

With 41% of voters in India aged below 18, to achieve 91 lakh voters, Bengaluru's estimated population must be 1.55 crores or closer. Are we there already?

Election Commission, through many special drives, has been focusing on getting more voters registered. Here are some observations based on the final voter roll numbers shared by the Election Commission.

  • 20.7 Lakh voters have been added to the 28 constituencies of Bengaluru, 3.16 lakhs have been added in the two months March – May 2018!
  • From an average of 2.5 lakhs voters in 2015, Bengaluru constituencies have an average voter roll size of 3.25 lakhs.
  • The smallest constituency is Shivaji Nagar with 1.96 Lakh voters, the largest is Bengaluru South, three times that size, with 6.03 lakhs. Mahadevapura follows with 5.04 lakhs.
  • The total electorate was 70 Lakhs in 2013, and it is now 91 lakhs. While the 28 constituencies include parts of panchayat areas around the city, it is pertinent to note that the 2011 census of Bengaluru pegged the population within BBMP areas at 84.43 lakhs.

Constituency number Constituency name May 13 March 2018 May 2018
150 Yelahanka 293,212 373,987 387,664
151 K.R. Pura 339,796 438,082 465,434
152 Byatarayanapura 330,418 419,587 440,308
153 Yeshwanthapura 349,701 453,792 474,806
154 Rajarajeshwarinagar 334,741 454,901 471,459
155 Dasarahalli 345,035 437,077 449,897
156 Mahalakshmi Layout 245,575 286,908 292,332
157 Malleshwaram 173,745 213,528 218,922
158 Hebbal 210,384 252,870 265,312
159 Pulakeshinagar 178,192 231,913 237,288
160 Sarvagnanagar 279,868 334,420 347,506
161 C.V. RamannNagar 196,617 260,559 269,010
162 Shivajinagar 167,181 191,528 196,776
163 Shantinagar 179,386 218,461 226,046
164 Gandhinagar 192,909 223,224 229,803
165 Rajajinagar 176,139 207,606 211,116
166 Govindarajanagar 239,480 288,248 292,973
167 Vijayanagar 235,957 305,386 312,443
168 Chamrajapet 183,004 216,896 220,947
169 Chickpet 187,702 216,834 223,682
170 Basavanagudi 198,218 238,614 245,325
171 Padmanabanagar 219,474 267,865 278,219
172 B.T.M Layout 207,212 263,853 270,493
173 Jayanagar 170,935 195,401 203,184
174 Mahadevapura 368,234 470,878 504,850
175 Bommanahalli 320,323 405,037 414,076
176 Bangalore South 448,097 581,408 603,678
177 Anekal 270,678 348,102 359,546
    7,042,213 8,796,965 9,113,095

Commander PG Bhat, an expert in election-related data, who has been analysing the voter rolls for many years questions the accuracy of voter rolls:

Census india states that 41.1% of the population of India is below 18 years. To have 91 lakh voters, the population of Bangalore must be 1.55 crore, at least, if every eligible person has registered as a voter. Do we need a better proof that the voter lists bloated beyond belief?

Of course population of Bengaluru might have gone up in last seven years. The percentage of people who are single and in the city for earning their livelihoods might be more, so the question of having 41% population below 18 years may not arise here. Various websites take into account annual rate of increase in population and peg the population of Bengaluru between 1.23 crores and 1.24 crores. Even then, 91 lakh looks bloated.

Meanwhile, many voters who gave request to change their constituency during the special drives have got new voter cards, but their names continue to exist in the old constituency rolls as well. This just leads to doubts on the credibility of the voter roll numbers. This is important, because after the election, it will lead to a false analysis that concludes low voter turn out, as the base number on which it is calculated is inaccurate or bloated.

One apartment in Mahadevapura reported the presence of unknown persons in the same address where a few voters lived, and suspected that some of the entries might have been made by political parties to create fake voters. However, the Election Commission and BBMP officials ruled out any such issue.

Duplicate entries of same voters in a booth, across the booths and constituencies continue to haunt the voter list and affect its accuracy.

If you haven’t found your name yet in the new rolls, this link is where you can search for it.

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