If a voter, through short messaging system (SMS), sends the details of his or her Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number to a designated phone number of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), he or she will get the details of the polling station concerned.
This facility will be made available to electors of Tamil Nadu for the first time during the Lok Sabha elections, which will take place on April 24, according to Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
Mr Praveen Kumar told The Hindu on Wednesday that the BSNL number would be publicised in a few days. The database of electoral roll had been linked with the BSNL server and software developed for the purpose of disseminating information on polling stations.
The facility had a provision for State-wide search.
This meant that a voter, anywhere in the State, had to send a message to the BSNL number, indicating his or her EPIC number whereas, in some States, one had the number of one’s Assembly constituency too.
In some States, private service providers had been roped in while, in some others, the services of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) had been used.
hough the State Elections Department initially approached the NIC, the latter had expressed its inability.
EnrolmentAddressing a press conference, Mr. Praveen Kumar said eligible persons could still apply for inclusion of their names in the electoral roll up to 10 days before the last date for filing nominations. This meant that they could apply till March 25 as the last date for filing nominations would be April 5.
In every Assembly segment of a Lok Sabha constituency, one flying squad and one static surveillance team would function in a batch to maintain purity of election and curb illegal expenditure of money. There would be three batches in a day.
