Mangaluru: Booth Level Officers dump voter app

The mobile app launched by the Election Commission of India for special summary revision of electoral rolls has been of little help to Booth Level Officers (BLOs).

MANGALURU: The mobile app launched by the Election Commission of India for special summary revision of electoral rolls has been of little help to Booth Level Officers (BLOs). A majority of them have refused to use the mobile app and instead are carrying out the door-to-door verification manually.

Sources in the district administration said 138 of the 244 BLOs in the district do not have Android phones which is required to download the voter helpline app to conduct the door-to-door verification while those who have the app are also going for traditional method because of the difficulty they face in using the app. They are also uncomfortable with taking selfies with the voters in order to authenticate their visit.

Teachers, anganwadi workers and government officials double up as BLOs and a majority of those who are not using mobile apps are those aged above 50. “If they try using apps, then they can pick up gradually and their job becomes easy. But some of them who have android phones do not even want to try. It is difficult to convince them, “ said an official.

A BLO said she was fed up with the time the app takes to complete the procedure. “It takes 15-20 minutes to update the documents and complete the process at every doorstep. The app is slow and keeps buffering. Hence, it is easy to just collect all documents and hand it over to election office where it will be updated,” she said.

Since the 45-day EVP started on September 1, just over 1,187 voters have used the voter helpline app in Dakshina Kannada district in the first 25 days.

Mangaluru City Corporation  Revenue Officer Gayathri Devi told TNIE they have planed awareness programmes in colleges to boost the verification through mobile app.

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The New Indian Express
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