Thanks EC, I’m a First-Time Voter and My Name Is Not on the List

The excitement of being a voter for the first time and casting my first vote all came to an end today, as I could not find my name in the voters’ list for the second phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. What’s worse is that this has happened to me for the second time.

I had applied for a voter ID for the Karnataka Assembly election in May last year. I was not able to cast my vote then, because I found out that I was underage as of 1 January 2018. I couldn’t help that, but I knew that I would be eligible to vote in the Lok Sabha elections so I submitted my application online in January 2019 itself.

After submitting my application, I received an application number, but there was neither a follow-up nor any update. When I checked online for a status update, it said that a BLO (Booth Level Officer) was not appointed to me, which is the first step to getting oneself enrolled.

I finally visited the BLO personally to enquire about this. He told me that I should meet him again on election day and my voter ID card would ready by then. But it wasn’t.

I was left disappointed. I saw that my parents and friends went out voting and got inked, and I was not even able to cast my first vote. Through social media, and even at the polling booth, I found that there were many like me who couldn't find their name in the voters list.

1. Is there a game being played or is it that the officials are not doing their job?

2. If many have not been able to vote because their names are missing in the voter list, resulting in very poor voter turnout, what would this say about our democracy?

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