How to get your voter-id (and verify it) !

The election season is back in Maharashtra. And this means there is a rush to check if one's name is on the electoral rolls.

Rahul Dravid, the brand ambassador of the Karnataka Election Commission, faced an embarassing situation recently , when he couldn't vote since his name was deleted from the rolls without his knowledge. To ensure that you don't end up like Rahul Dravid, be pro-active and check if your name is on the electoral rolls.

Another problem area is people who have shifted to a different place and therfore miss out on voting since their name isn't on the electoral rolls at their current place. A few years ago this would be something you could only crib about. But now things are definitely better. You can enroll yourself as a new voter or get your name on the rolls at your new place from the comfort of your home. And shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. Read on to know how.






THE VOTER'S PORTAL

Go to National Voters' Service Portal website (https://www.nvsp.in/)
This is the one stop for all things related to your voter id.

You can also check out this app for all these. But I would prefer the website over the app any day.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eci.citizen&hl=en_IN


You can find your name on the rolls, apply for a new voter id, apply for change in personal details, migration to another assembly constituency as well as deletion of your voter id from earlier address.

And before you go ahead and apply for a new voter-id, make sure you search for your name in the electoral rolls, especially in states /ditricts you have stayed before. There is a good chance your name might be on the rolls without you even realising it. If you do find your name on the electoral rolls, but in a different area, go ahead and raise a request to delete the name from the rolls. That way you'll ensure that your vote is not misused. I personally know of a case where 1 person has 4 different active voter-ids in 2 different states. This is might sound funny but is in fact illegal. So make sure unwanted voter-ids are found and delete requests are raised for the same.

And I know it works because I have got voter ids made for my parents and myself, and it has been successful each time. My wife's application is now in progress and it looks like it is on track. On average, the time taken from submission of application online to issuance of the voter-id is around 60 days.





Once the application is made, a BLO is appointed for your case. And then there is a field verification, wherein either you receive a call to verify your details or you are asked to visit the nearest ward office. Once the field verification is complete, you should ideally be allotted a voter id in aorund 60 days.

You can keep tracking your application at the same portal. Once you see your application is complete, you can go check for your name in the portal here. https://electoralsearch.in/
Do check with various combinations of first name and last name, since some spelling mistakes are to be expected. Also in my case, my date of birth was erroneously updated thereby making me a 18 year old. Point being, be creative while checking your name in the rolls.






APPLYING FOR A VOTER ID

For the application, you need to have an address proof and a proof of age. Aadhaar and passport are the ones I used. The complete list of acceptable proofs is as follows.

Till some time back you could do all this without registering. Now you need to register yourself and thereby your details are tied to a mobile number ensuring better communication, I guess.

In addition to all this, and more importantly, there is an Elector's Verification Program going on till 15 Oct 2019. (that is 2 days more to go)






The objective is to give voters a chance to verify their details. The user is expected to upload a document as a proof of address and age. This exercise also ties each voter id to a mobile number thereby making them contactable. The head of the family also gets to tag family members residing at the same address.

So if you have never voted (or if you know someone who wants to get their name on the electoral rolls), get going and ensure you don't miss out on casting your valuable vote!

Don't wait for an election to come up. As the popular saying goes, "Kal kare so aaj kar, aaj kare so ab!"