A special camp organised by the Election Commission to enrol new voters witnessed a huge response in the Capital on Sunday with over 1.7 lakh people applying for enrolment in the voters’ list.
The special camp was organised at 11,763 booths across the city, where registered voters also got to cross-check the status of their names in the electoral rolls.
The process of enrolment has not ended with the camp. Officials said people can apply for enrolment till the last day of nominations — March 22 — at the nearest registration office.
Delhi Electoral Office officials said voter ID cards will be issued after verification of residence proof provided by the applicants and that all the eligible applicants are likely to get their cards by the month-end.
“The last date of disposal of applications is March 22. But we are hoping to finish it by March 17-18. The ID cards will be delivered to the voters. Those who do not receive their voters’ ID cards can collect them from the nearest registration office,” said Special CEO (Delhi) Ankur Garg.
While the maximum number of applications — over 28,000 — were received in the South West district, the Central district recorded the lowest — 9,866. Officials said a Booth Level Officer (BLO) was deployed at each camp to assist people in checking their names on the voters’ list, enrolling as new voters or applying for a change in address.
However, people complained that some BLOs were not aware of the documentation process.
“My parents had to apply for change of address, but the BLOs told them that the bank passbook they were carrying as address proof would not suffice. This despite guidelines listing a bank passbook as eligible residence proof. When we went back to the polling booth with the form, the BLO accepted it,” said Alaknanda resident S. Ashok.
Several others who turned up with problems like errors in spellings and age, claimed they were not entertained by the booth staff. They were allegedly told that these “minor” issues would be resolved after the Lok Sabha polls.
As per the final rolls published on January 31, there are 1,20,60,493 voters in Delhi, including 66,84,476 male voters and 53,76,017 female voters (including 638 transgenders).
