Many are unaware of official voter helpline numbers and apps and turn to informal WhatsApp groups.
Vinita Kaul asked in the Citizens Empowered WhatsApp group, what should be done if someone who has lost their original voter ID wants a duplicate. Another participant in the group Rashmi, said that a first time voter in her locality had her gender listed in her voter ID card as male instead of female. She asked the fellow members in the group advice on what to do next.
Many such citizens who are unclear about voter registration and election process have now taken to such unofficial WhatsApp groups to clear their doubts and queries. Even though the Election Commission (EC) has launched an official voter helpline number and voter helpline app, many are unaware of them.
Poornima Shetty of Citizens Empowered said that such WhatsApp groups are “tremendously helpful” to citizens. “Many people have questions to ask and sometimes the booth level officers are not that well equipped to answer them and make the residents go from pillar to post. So, it is better that citizens who have been through the same problems come together to share solutions.”
Participants in the group always get a helpful response to their queries. In the case of Vinita, she was told that she can download her voter ID from the website and also use her Electors Photo Identification Card (EPIC) number to vote. Similarly another person who said that a senior citizen in his locality who is 92 years old cannot go to the polling booth to vote but his name is not registered to vote from home. He asked the group members what to do and many answered asking him to speak to his locality’s revenue officer as EC is making special arrangements for senior citizens to help them vote.
Prakash DR, member of the group said that the members of such initiatives have enough knowledge about matters relating to election processes and that “this is the main reason for forming such groups to clear doubts of people who may not be aware of such things.”
But, things like this should not be limited to a WhatsApp group, said Sathish Mallya, Joint Secretary of Bangalore Apartment Federation. “How many people can join a WhatsApp group? So I think people should form their own smaller groups in their apartments, residents associations,” he said.
However, Mahesh Pandya, political analyst said that sharing personal information like voter details on public forums is very dangerous and it can be misused.
