The annual revision of the electoral rolls is under way and the draft voters’ list will be published on November 8. To enable citizens to submit applications for addition/deletions or any other changes, a special drive will be held on all Sundays of this month.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta, who is also the District Election Officer, told reporters here on November 6 that the voters’ list revision was an annual exercise, not really related to the elections to the civic body. “However, the same list will be used for the BBMP polls whenever it is held,” he said.
Citizens will have time till December 8 to submit applications for either address change within the same Assembly constituency, change of address outside the constituency, addition/deletion, etc. This time around, citizens need not even go to the offices of the assistant revenue officer, booth-level officer or election officer concerned. Applications may be submitted online with the requisite documents, either through the Voter Helpline app that is available on the Google Play Store, or by visiting
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BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Administration) Dayanand, who is the Additional District Election officer, said that for new enrolments for those aged above 18, the cut-off date is January 1, 2003. “Anyone born before January 1, 2003, and has turned 18 years may apply.” Election officials have requested political parties to appoint booth-level agents who can coordinate with the BLOs. “Usually, during elections, there are allegations that names have been deleted from the voters’ list. The booth-level agents, in coordination with the BLOs, can get names of eligible voters included in the list,” he added.
He pointed out that having an elector’s photo identity card (EPIC) does not mean that one would be able to vote, especially if people had moved to another place, either within or outside the same Assembly constituency. “It is very important for all eligible voters to update the changes so that they can vote in all elections,” he said.
Mr. Gupta said that the BLOs had been directed to go door-to-door to verify if all names of eligible voters residing in the areas had been included in the list.
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The civic body has not been able to sanction building plan approvals after the High Court of Karnataka ruled that the BBMP was not authorised to collect plan approval fees and others. “This has both legal and financial implications. We have submitted our proposal to the State Government, and are confident that the Government will arrive at a suitable decision soon. Several rounds of discussions have already happened,” the civic chief said.
Installation of Puneeth’s statue
Fans of actor late Puneeth Rajkumar have demanded that his statue be installed in the city. In response to the growing demands, Mr. Gupta said the High Court had issued orders regarding installation of statues. He added that the State Government would take a decision on this.