One could cast his or her vote in the April-May General Elections to Lok Sabha and State Assembly only if his or her name was on the voters’ list. Having an ID card like voter’s ID card would not entitle one to cast his or her vote. Hence it is the responsibility of every voter has ensure that his or her name is on the voters’ list, Chief Electoral Officer of AP Bhanwar Lal said here on Saturday.
The CEO made this point clear while addressing a press conference after reviewing the election preparedness with Collector and District Election Officer S. Solomon Arokia Raj, Joint Collector Pravin Kumar and others. To verify the list one could also send an SMS to 92462 80027 by typing VOTE and the voter’s ID number after leaving a space. The query would be answered through a return SMS. If the name was not there on the list an application has to be made for inclusion.
“March 20 is the last date for applying for registration as a voter and if some could not utilise the opportunity, they could apply till March 30 in Telangana area which goes to poll in the first phase and April 9 in AP area in which elections would be held during the second phase”, Mr. Bhanwar Lal said.
Names of all the eligible persons who applied for registration as voters during special drives held in the past would be included in the list of voters by March 20. Smart cards would be issued to all by April first week.
Voter slip with photo of the voter printed on it would be distributed to every voter one week ahead of the polling date and they would serve as identity proof.
Notification for phase I of elections, in Telangana area, would be issued on April 2 and for phase II (AP area) on April 12. Elections would be held on April 30 and May 7 in Telangana and Andhra areas respectively.
Special campaign today: A special campaign for registration of new voters and verification of voters lists would be held on Sunday at all the polling booths at which not even a single application was received during the last special campaign. The campaign would also be held at the polling booths where the Booth Level Officers did not report during the special campaigns held on last Sunday, he said.
