If you have exercised your franchise in previous elections and have an EPIC (electoral photo identity card) card, do not assume that you can vote this time around too. Mere possession of voter identity cards will not guarantee your voting right. Your name should be in the electoral rolls.
Voters can log on to the Elecion Commission’s website www.ceokarnataka.kar.nic and search for their names now, instead of complaining about missing names on polling day, urged Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Karnataka Sanjiv Kumar.
Addressing presspersons on Thursday, he said as of now, of the total electorate of 5.03 crore, as per the final electoral rolls published on January 16, not more that 7.45 lakh people have so far visited the website to check for their names.
“It is important for voters to search for their names in the list now. If it is not found, they still have an opportunity to register, add or delete their names, and for this, the Election Commission is conducting special two-day camps on February 23 and February 24, and on March 2 and March 3. On these days, all booth-level officers (BLOs) will be present at their respective polling stations to help citizens enrol,” he said.
The BLOs will have copies of the final electoral roll and adequate number of forms for people to enrol or make corrections, apart from addition and deletion.
Special camps
The special camps will focus on registration of young voters and persons with disabilities (PWDs). While meetings have been held with the departments of education, disability welfare, social security, and pensions apart from the Labour Department seeking their cooperation in the enrolment of young voters and PWDs, camps will also be held in colleges to spread awareness among students.
Every citizen, who has crossed 18 years as on January 1, 2019, can enrol by submitting Form 6 along with the proof of his/her age and residence.
As per the final electoral rolls (published on January 16), 7.12 lakh new voters have enrolled and 1 lakh applications have been received from colleges. Registration can also be done online on www.voterreg.kar.nic.in , Mr. Sanjiv Kumar said.
Gender ratio
There has been a constant improvement in the gender ratio over the years. It has gone up from 958 (for every 1,000 male) in 2013 Assembly elections to 976 this year. It was 960 in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 963 in 2015 final rolls and 972 in 2018 Assembly elections.
EPIC card distribution
After the publication of the draft electoral roll on October 11, 2018, 9,31,484 new cards have been generated till date. Of these, while 6,97,184 cards have been distributed on the National Voters Day on January 25, the remaining cards will be distributed during the special camps, he added.
Poor response from political parties
Although all political parties have been informed, in writing, to appoint booth-level agents (BLAs) in each of the 58,000 polling booths in the State, so far only 26,432 agents have been appointed. Of these, 14,606 are from the BJP, 9,497 are from Congress, 1,038 from JD(S) and 950 from BSP. These BLAs can sit at the polling stations along with BLOs and assist the voters to verify their details in the rolls and submit relevant forms.
