Online Voter Registration in Bangalore - My Experiences

My Experience - 1

Sometime in 2012 there started a flurry of facebook posts on online voter registration for the upcoming 2013 Karnataka assembly elections. A number of organizations and volunteers (like BPAC and smartvote) were working sincerely to encourage the citizens to register their names on the rolls. It was then that I decided to register myself too.

My old voterID card was made in my hometown Jodhpur, Rajasthan and I had voted there before but to vote in Bangalore I needed to register here. So I went to the Karnataka govt.'s website for Online Submission of Forms. The site is not super good but provides the basic information. Here are my experiences of getting a voterID card by applying online -

31st July, 2012: Registered on website. Based on the information provided, it was clear that I had to fill Form 6 (Inclusion of my name in Bangalore's electoral rolls). To fill the form, you need to know your assembly constituency or ward number. If you don’t know any of these, check bcity website. It has a nice map based ward demarcation feature using which you can know your ward number and assembly constituency both.

6 Aug, 2012 - Submitted the online application. It required following documents (scanned copy) -

Recent passport size photo (Photo should be in jpg format and maximum allowed size is 50KB)
Age Proof Document (should be in pdf format and maximum allowed size is 1MB)
Address Proof Document (should be in pdf format and maximum allowed size is 1MB).

Please keep these handy while filling the form otherwise the session might expire and you will have to refill the form.

6 Aug, 2012 - Application Status - "In Process:- Application Received."

10 Aug, 2012 - Took printout of my Form 6 acknowledgement and speed posted it along with supporting documents to the office of AERO (address mentioned in acknowledgement)

1 Nov, 2012 - Application Status - "In Process:- Application Received."

13 Dec, 2012 - Application Status - "Your Application Entered into the system. It is waiting for AERO Decision (It meant my application request was moving to next step and I hoped that my name will reflect in electoral rolls soon.)

23 Jan, 2013 - The Election Commission of Karnataka published the latest electoral rolls some time back so I tried to search my name online on the ceokarnataka website. I could find my name and all the details including voterID number.

9 Feb, 2013 - VoterID card was delivered to my home by some local volunteer. I have heard that some people had to go to the nearest BBMP office or Bangalore one center to collect the voterID card.

Please note that voterID card is not necessary to vote. If your name is in the voter list, you can vote with any govt issued photo card (Driving license, passport, Aadhar card , ration card etc) to identify yourself. Besides, voterID card does not have your polling booth details. I had to check online voter rolls (pdf file) to figure out my polling booth.

My Experience - 2

After casting my vote for the assembly elections, I had to shift my house within Bangalore. The new residential address fell into a different assembly constituency, which meant that I need to fill form 6 again to get my name included in electoral rolls of that assembly constituency. With the 2014 loksabha elections approaching I decided to get this done soon. As I have now become an experienced player at filling form 6, I didn't have to spend much time on it :) Here are my experiences second time -

4 Dec, 2013 - Submitted the online application. Application Status - "In Process:- Application Received."

10 Dec, 2013 - Took printout of my Form 6 acknowledgement and speed posted it along with supporting documents to the office of AERO

1 Feb, 2014 - Application Status - " Field Verification Completed." (it meant my name should be updated in the electoral list soon.)

26 Mar, 2014 - My Assembly constituency, Part No and Section/ Street was updated . Yippie! :) (it meant my name has come in the voter list)

FAQs:

How do I check the status of Form 6 Application?
Ans:- Login on website. To check the status you just need to enter the application number as printed in the Form 6 acknowledgement.
Is it necessary to provide the details of previous voterID card?
Ans:- It is recommended to provide the details of previous voterID card so that your name could be deleted from the previous area's list and added in new area's list. Though this is not mandatory, just a good practice.
What is Part Number in electoral rolls?
Ans:- Part number represents a unique Polling booth. Also note that one physical building, for e.g. a school or college, can have multiple polling booths. You can only give vote in the polling booth represented by your part number.
How do I know my polling booth address ?
Ans:-
- If you know your assembly constituency (AC) number and your part number, you can find your polling booth details by navigating through this page for Karnataka.
- Or Search by your name/ EPIC no.(voter ID number) at this page for Karnataka.

Category: experience

Comments

Mohammed shabaz

02 Mar 15

I am an Indian so pls help me out to make voter id
nagendra

08 Nov 14

Hi all of them i also applied online to get voter id card after one month i searched my name in electoral roll through online my name was finally included in electoral roll in online i got my epic card no and my polling place.
shivaprasad

05 Nov 14

i am a indian
anil kumar

17 Jun 14

if we will not submit within 7 days will it cancel ??? can we apply again later ??????
Harish

23 Apr 14

Hi,
I just wanted to know when will the online portal be open next time? Also for people who doesnt have SSLC Marks card or Birth Certificate ,what can be provided as age proof?
neha

24 Apr 14

Hi Harish,

Voter Registration when it opens online, willl be announced in newspapers. You can also join smartVote's facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/smartvote.in. They will announce all events from time to time.
Regarding age proof, you can submit Marksheet of class 8 or class 5 if it has date of birth in it. To know what other documents can be submitted as age proof, read - http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/forms/FORM6.PDF
Jai

14 Apr 14

What does EC says...to vote. How are we expected to vote without getting registered ? Applied online on 6th dec 2013. Submitted the documents with application in the office suggested next day. Everything is in process. Is this really how a govt work. Kept in dark. No mail received. No issue raised. Next what...will enjoy the leave on 17th. Nonsense !
Ravi Chandran

10 Apr 14

I too applied Online in Nov 13, followed exactly the same process mentioned here and couriered the documents along with acknowledgement to AERO office in Bommanahalli, Bangalore. Till date my application status shows 'Under Process' and no action has been taken. I had followed up many times on toll-free number 1950 and also registered complaint in ECI website. No action. Election is next week and still I don't have my name included in the list. I assume there is no more scope for inclusion for this election.
neha

10 Apr 14

Hi Ravi,
Yes. if status is still 'Under Process' you won't be able to vote this time :(
Sushil Dabare

10 Apr 14

I have send the hard copy of my documnets along with my wifes documnets in same envelop. ERO got the my wife documnets and they are say they did not receive my documnet hard copy as I send this in normal post I am do not have any proof to prove them wrong look like I will not able vote this time.
neha

10 Apr 14

Hi Sushil,
If you have no proof of sending documents then you can't do anything but apply again. Yes, you wouldn't be able to vote this time.
Sambit

09 Apr 14

I also applied for voter id this time on feb-2014. If I search status of my application it shows My Assembly constituency, Part No and Section/ Street. This is the status from Mar-2014. But till now I have not received my voter id card. I donno my EPIC no. Can I still vote? I tried to find out my name on electoral roll available online but could not find out any trace of my name. Do you have any idea what should I do now? Whom to contact. I want to vote this time :( . Please help if you have any idea. Thanks in advance.
neha

10 Apr 14

Yes, sure you can vote if status of your application shows Assembly constituency, Part No and Section/ Street. To know your EPIC no. search your name as described in http://www.humlog.net/experience/how-to-search-your-name-in-voter-list
Hope that helps. Let me know if you still have any issues.
sanjay

03 Apr 14

I too applied online and status shows field verification completed.

when my name will get updated and when will I get voter ID card

thanks
neha

08 Apr 14

Hello, "Field verification completed" means your name should appear in the rolls in the next update of rolls. But the problem is it would not happen before the elections now as there are only 10 days left now. The final rolls have already been published. I am afraid you may not vote this time.
Navaladi Raghunathan

20 Mar 14

your information is very useful. for me my name is found two times in ths list with different id numbers. what to
do?
Arshad

03 Mar 14

Was any physical verification done at your address by ERO? Do they give a call if they come for verification and you are not present at that time.
neha

24 Mar 14

No one has come yet for any verification. Will update here if that happens.