You can register as a voter till March 16

A vehicle, hired by the BBMP, carrying a billboard asking people to ensure that their names are on the voters' list, in Bangalore. Photo: K Gopinathan

Is your name on the voters’ list? If not, you still have a chance to register yourself as a voter by submitting the requisite forms at your polling station, BangaloreOne centres, or jurisdictional offices of the Assistant Revenue Officer and ward offices. The last date to do so is March 16, said M. Lakshminarayana, District Election Officer and Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner.

Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, he said that a special drive would be held on March 9 at all the 7,712 polling stations in the city. “On March 9 (Sunday), citizens can go to the polling stations and get their names added to the voters’ list. They may also verify and check if their names are included the voters’ list that will be published outside the polling stations,” he said and added that the list would also be put up at the ward offices and offices of the Assistant Revenue Officers.

The Election Commission of India has launched an SMS facility to aid voters to not just check if their names are on the voters’ list, but also to know which polling station/ booth they have to go to cast their vote. To know which polling station they have to go to, voters can SMS “KAEPIC (Elector’s Photo Identity Card number)” to 9243355223. Voters can also visit www.voterreg.kar.nic.in or www.ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in to enrol, change address, search name in the list, know the polling station details or the status of the application.

Mr. Lakshminarayan said that as on January 31, 2014, there were 72.62 lakh registered voters in Bangalore (BBMP limits). Between October 30, 2013, and December 6, 2013, 2.26 lakh names were added on the voters’ list, while 24,653 names were deleted.

Meanwhile, a series of awareness programmes have been planned to encourage more people to come out and vote as part of the ongoing Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign. The voter turnout during the previous parliamentary election was 58 per cent.

“This time, we hope to increase it to 75 per cent. As part of the awareness drives, street plays will be held, campaigns will be taken up in huge apartment complexes. That apart, we will also enlist the help of non-governmental organisations working in this area,” said K.R. Niranjan, Special Commissioner (Elections).

He said that mobile vans would be engaged for focussed campaigns in slum areas and IT companies.