GANGTOK: About 16 thousand people have enrolled as new voters across Sikkim ahead of the Assembly and Parliamentary elections.
The total number of voters enrolled as on date is 4, 23,325 which includes 2, 16,222 male voters and 2,07,103 female voters. Two persons are from the third gender and 2,000 voters have identified themselves as PWD or Persons with Disabilities.  Among them, 16,012 new voters have been added in the summary revision during the months of September and October 2018, according to the final publication of the electoral roll with reference to January 1, 2019 as qualifying date released today by Chief Electoral Officer, Sikkim R. Telang in a news conference here today.
The CEO further said there could still be some additions and some deletions in the list till seven days prior to the filing of nominations. With the population profile of Sikkim being young, maximum voters fall within the age group of 18 to 45 years,
DC east Kapil Meena, additional CEO Roshni Rai, officers of east district administration centre, representatives of recognized political parties and members of the media were present on the occasion.
A soft copy each of the final Electoral Roll was handed over to representatives of recognized political parties by the CEO. A soft copy of the electoral roll was also handed over to director, Printing & Stationeries department for immediate publication.
CEO Telang added that the hard copies of the electoral roll would be available in a few days and a copy each would be provided free of cost to all recognized political parties, while registered political parties and members of the public can obtain it from office of CEO or District Election Officer on payment of a nominal amount fixed by the Commission.
There will be 567 numbers of polling stations including 18 new ones for the upcoming general elections, which includes 51 Sangha polling stations.
The First Level Checking (FLC) of the EVMs have been completed and have been shared with all political parties. Various aspects of the polling process and the role of political parties was also shared by the CEO.
The CEO said it is also the voters’ responsibility to check their names in the voters list. He informed that voters can check their names through three modes- visit the website www.nvsp.in, download Voter Helpline App on smart phones or call toll free number 1950, which would be operational from February 1 between 9am to 6pm on all working days
He said that the office of the chief election officer is generating adequate awareness about voter awareness so that every eligible voter can exercise his/her right to vote. He added that Sikkim aims to successfully accomplish the national theme ‘No Voter is Left behind’. He also informed that the recently appointed Election Icons will voluntarily spread awareness about the importance of voting, ethical practices and urge people to come forward to vote.
The CEO also spoke briefly about the EVM and the value addition that the VVPAT will bring to the election process.