Polls: BBMP urges voters to verify details before it's too late

NT Correspondent

 Bengaluru: The city has a total of 79,83,394 voters according to the draft list, with 41,94,496 males, 37,97,497 females, and 1,401 other voters. Voters can verify their details in the ward-wise draft electoral rolls and submit any claims or objections to the electoral registration officers of the respective zones.

The Chief Election Commissioner of Karnataka, D Basavaraju expressed concern with Bengaluru’s poor track record when it comes to voter turnout, especially in the local body polls. He said that the poll percentage was 44 in the 2010 BBMP elections and 49 in 2015.

“This is the right time for voters to confirm their details in the list and also get changes such as change of address made in the electoral roll so that they will not have to miss out on voting this time,” he added. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said that directions were being given to officials to identify spaces and open new ward offices.

Poor response to Aadhaar-voter ID linkage

The State Election Commission, along with the BBMP, has been promoting the linkage of Aadhaar numbers of voters with their voter identity cards ahead of the BBMP elections.

 However, the progress in this exercise has been poor with only about 3 percent of voters coming forward to link their Aadhaar number with the voter identity card. On Thursday, BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Administration) and Nodal Officer for the linkage S Rangappa said that close to 3 percent of voters have got their Aadhaar numbers linked to voter identity cards. This includes Bengaluru Urban and the three Lok Sabha constituencies of Bengaluru.

The numbers are minimal in Chickpet Assembly Constituency,” he added. Speaking to reporters after the announcement of the draft electoral roll for BBMP polls, BBMP officials maintained that the linkage is optional but recommended