Delhi Election 2025: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has received an ‘unprecedented’ number of applications for new voter registrations in the national capital in the past three weeks. The newly-added women voters have outnumbered men ahead of Delhi Election 2025, the poll panel said.
In a statement, the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said more than 3 lakh new voters have been added to the voter list in the special summary revision process. Among the new voters, women (96,426) outnumbered men (70,873).
An additional 5.1 lakh 'Form-6' have been received between December 16, 2024, and January 6 for registration of new voters, the poll panel said. Form 6 is an application for the inclusion of names in the voter lists.
“This trend of unprecedented increase of form-6 and that too after 20 days of the last date of receiving claims and objections as scheduled…(28.11.2024) is unexpected and needs greater scrutiny,” the statement said.
The sudden rush to become a voter in Delhi is being attributed to Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal's promise to increase the dole for women under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana from ₹1,000 to ₹2,100 if his party is re-elected in the assembly polls. Kejriwal initially announced the scheme with a ₹1,000 per month promise but later announced an increase to ₹2,100 on December 12, 2024, ahead of assembly polls.
Being a registered Delhi voter in the national capital is the top eligibility criteria for the scheme. Kejriwal also announced a free healthcare scheme for senior citizens on December 18. A beneficiary has to be a voter in Delhi for this scheme, too.
Sources said the Mahila Samman Yojana, linked to the voter cards of the beneficiaries, amounts to bribing the electors, which is prohibited under the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct, news agency PTI said. The Model Code of Conduct comes into effect the moment elections are announced by the ECI.
As per the final electoral roll of the national capital released on Monday, around 1.55 crore people will be eligible to cast their ballots during the upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi. This includes 83,49,645 men, 71,73,952 women, and 1,261 third-gender voters. There are 24,44,320 senior citizen voters in Delhi, with 2,77,221 people above the age of 80, the poll panel said.
As many as 52,554 first-time voters, aged between 18 and 19 years, have also been added to Delhi's voter list, bringing their number to 2,08,302 from 1,55,748.
The elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly are expected to be held in February. The ECI has not announced the dates yet. The term of the current assembly in Delhi expires on February 23, 2025.
The AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal, seeks to retain power in Delhi for a third time. The party won assembly elections in 2015 and 2020, with 67 seats in 2015 and 63 in 2020 in the Assembly Elections.
Taking a leaf out of the AAP promise, the Congress party also promised ₹2,500 a month for women in Delhi if it wins the February Delhi Elections. The Congress party's scheme is called 'Pyari Didi Yojana.'
The panel said efforts were underway to scrutinise the new voter registration applications. As many as eight FIRs have already been filed against 24 people for submitting false or tampered documents for obtaining voter IDs.
“Directions are issued to…scrutinise each and every form strictly as per ECI guidelines. 100 per cent field verification shall be done…to identify the genuine eligible persons.” the statement said.
(With PTI inputs)
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