BENGALURU: Voting in Karnataka, which comes under Phase-2 of the elections across India, starts from April 13 with Vote From Home (VFH) and will continue for the next five days.
A total of 40,743 people have opted for VFH. Of them, 37,739 people are aged above 85 years of age and 13,004 are People with Disabilities (PwD).
As per data from the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka (CEO) data, there are a total of 3,40,856 people aged above 85 years of age who are eligible to opt for VFH. There are also 2,76,042 PwD who are eligible to take the option under Phase-2 of the elections, residing in 14 constituencies going to polls of April 26.
A total of 6,407 voters will utilise VFH in three constituencies in Bengaluru -- North, South and Central. As per the list, there are 6,206 people aged above 85 years and 201 PwD.
According to election officials, the VFH percentage is very low. “Most people are keen to visit the polling booth to vote. This is the first time VFH has been introduced for the Lok Sabha elections. Last time, it was held for the assembly elections, where a total of 99,535 people had opted for it from 224 assembly constituencies,” said Additional CEO Venkatesh Kumar R.
The list of VFH voters so far is from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumakuru, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur and Kolar.
The people who chose VFH were informed 3-4 days in advance of the time frame, during which they are expected to be available at their residence, when the returning officers and the booth level officers visit. In case a voter is not present on the scheduled day, election staffers will inform the absentee voter of the next date when they will again visit, which is likely to be 2-3 days later, Kumar said.
A time duration of five days has been announced to complete the exercise. It is left to the staffers to chalk out their plan and routes. The number of voters and booths can be decided by the local officers, however, a range of 30-50 per day has been given to them, by the CEO office.
POINTS TO NOTE
Voters must keep Epic Card or any other govt certified ID proof handy
Voting in VFH is a paper ballot
Voting is done in complete secrecy
Election staffers must be informed in advance, if attendant assistance needed