Voter's I-card a click of the mouse away

Bangalore - 25 Oct 2011: First-time voters can now hope to avoid the ordeal of standing in long queues and physically applying for their voter's identity card.

For, getting onto the electoral roll now has become more citizen friendly, thanks to the online facility launched by the office of the chief electoral officer, Karnataka, where voters can apply online, make modifications, deletions or even transposition of their entries in the electoral roll.

Addressing the media in Bangalore on Monday, Chief Electoral Officer C S Suranjana said the voter enrolment facility (www.voterreg.kar.nic.in), which was made functional from October 1 onwards, already has around 8,000 registered users and around 3,800 submitted users. About 48,000 people have visited the site.

After applying online, citizens will have to download, print, and sign copies of the application and send it across to the assistant electoral registration officer (AERO) concerned along with supporting documents, including proof of address and age. The addresses have been made available under the link, "Know your ERO/AERO."

Suranjana said that till date, applicants had to personally hand over their applications. The new system will ensure a backup of the applications, as there are two copies of the applications - an online copy and a hardcopy that is submitted to the AERO. The CEO also said the margin for error would be brought down considerably, as the applicant could incorporate any changes online.

The process

Applicants need to register themselves in the citizen's portal to get the username and password for online submission by providing their valid email ID and mobile number.
After successful registration, the user name and password will be communicated to the applicant's email ID or phone.

For enrolment, Form 6 has to be filled and for making deletions, Form 7. For modifications or transpositions, Forms 8 and 8 A respectively, have to be filled. The applicant is required to upload their photos online, during the process.

If the citizen doesn't know his/her assembly constituency, he has to type in either his area PIN code or ward number to ascertain it. The applicants will be given a status number through which they can track the application status. The entire process may take 15 days.

Source : DHNS