11 different ID proofs to cast vote

District administration has made detailed arrangements to ensure that every registered voter gets to vote
Nagpur: After the fiasco of missing names from voters’ list in the 2014 general elections, the election commission and the collector’s office is making sure that no genuine registered voter misses out on the chance this time. The collector is the chief electoral officer of the district. Voting will be held in 7 seats on April 11 and the remaining three on April 18.

The entire administrative machinery assigned for election work has been working since January 2 to create awareness and to encourage people to get their names registered in the voters list through numerous drives. “Up to March 27 there were 40 lakh registered voters in the district. We have included the names of all those voters who filled the form 6(a) till March 15,” tehsildar Rahul Sarang (elections) told TOI.

There will be 4,382 polling booths in the city which will be manned by that many booth level officers (BLOs). “Almost all the polling booths will be in Nagpur Municipal Corporation schools. We require 21,000 personnel to carry out this exercise and this requirement has been met,” Sarang says.

Considering the rapidly rising temperatures, pandals will be put up wherever the voters will be required to stand under the sun for long hours.

Though each voter will have a booth within a radius of 2km from his/her residence, to felicitate the physically challenged voters an app has been created. “For those who cannot reach the booth on their own, they can download the PWD app on their phones and request for a pick up and drop facility,” said Sarang.

The administration also plans to hand deliver voter slips through the BLOs to every voter. “This slip will have the voter’s ID number, photo and name of booth. The voter slip is not valid for voting. But, if in case a voter cannot locate his or her voter’s card then this time EC has included 11 different ID proofs which can be shown at the booth and vote can be cast,” says Sarang.

A toll free number 1950 is active since January 2 and those wanting to verify their name, booth among other things can call on that number and seek details.

SMSes will also be sent to 10 lakh voters picked randomly to inform them about the date of polling. “This time we will also have web casting of the entire polling process at 442 booths identified as sensitive,” says Sarang.

Those booths which have had low voter turnouts or there have been FIRs against the booth managers for distribution of money or liquor during the last elections have been termed as sensitive booths.

This year the polling time has been extended by an hour as 7 seconds extra will have to be given to each voter to check his vote on VVPAT machines which will exhibit the name, number of the voter and election symbol of the candidate voted for.

The polling will begin at 7am and will end at 6pm.

NUMBER GAME

40 lakhs | Voters in Nagpur

4,382 | Number of polling booths

21,000 | Total staff working on poll day

1950 | Toll free number for voting related inquiries

7am to 6pm | Polling hours:

ID PROFFS WHICH CAN BE SHOWN IN PLACE OF VOTER CARDS

* Passport

* Driving license

* Service identity card with photograph issued by central, state govt, PSUs/public ltd companies

* Bank passbook with photograph

* PAN card

* Smart card used by RGI under NPR

* MNREGA job card

* Health insurance smart card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour

* Pension document with photograph

* Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs

* Aadhaar Card