Chennai, April 8 (IANS) Tamil Nadu has witnessed a significant rise in first-time voters ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, with the number of electors in the 18-19 age group increasing by nearly 33.6 per cent, according to data released by the Chief Electoral Officer’s office on Wednesday.

The number of young voters has climbed from 10.9 lakh during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to 14.6 lakh at present, reflecting a notable shift in the state’s electoral demographics.

The overall electorate has also registered a marginal increase. After dropping to 5.67 crore following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the total number of voters has now risen by 6.36 lakh to 5.73 crore as of April 6, the final day for filing nominations.

This increase comes after the inclusion of new applicants who submitted Form 6 following the publication of the final SIR rolls on February 13. These newly enrolled voters will be eligible to participate in the Assembly elections.

The growth in first-time voters is particularly significant as their share in the total electorate has increased. During the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, voters aged 18-19 accounted for just 1.8 per cent of the electorate, which then stood at 6.23 crore.

Despite the overall electorate shrinking to 5.73 crore after the SIR process, the proportion of first-time voters has now risen to 2.5 per cent. Election officials noted that this increase was expected, as the SIR exercise led to deletions across most age groups, thereby raising the relative share of younger voters. However, the sharp rise in absolute numbers indicates strong youth enrolment in recent weeks.

Of the 6.36 lakh voters added after February 13, nearly one-third were first-time voters, pushing their total from 12.59 lakh to 14.6 lakh.

The SIR process itself brought major changes to the electoral rolls. Before the revision began in October 2025, Tamil Nadu had 6.41 crore voters. This figure dropped sharply to 5.44 crore during the enumeration phase in December due to the deletion of 97.34 lakh names. It later increased to 5.67 crore after claims and objections were processed.

As of April 6, the state has 5,73,43,291 registered voters, including 2,93,04,905 women and 2,80,30,658 men. Women continue to outnumber men by 12.74 lakh, maintaining a consistent trend. Additionally, there are 7,728 transgender voters, while Dharmapuri remains the only district where male voters slightly exceed female voters.

With a growing youth electorate, political parties are expected to intensify efforts to engage first-time voters, whose participation could prove decisive in a closely contested, multi-cornered electoral battle.

–IANS

aal/dpb