QR codes on voter slips to help identify polling stations better

BENGALURU: While the political heat is rising with campaigns on in full swing, the election officials are keen to increase voting this time around. For this, they have now taken the digital route.

As is the trend, voting in urban areas is usually far below rural areas and despite efforts, there has not been much improvement, especially in Bengaluru. With the government announcing holidays on polling days, many people head out on holidays, leading to poorer voter turnout. Another factor which the election officials have identified is the problem voters face with locating their polling stations, apart from the traffic mess.

For the first time, the Election Commission has now planned to introduce QR codes which will make it easier for voters to find their polling booths. Five days ahead of the election, voter slips are usually given to voters by party workers. These slips will now have QR codes on the back which, when scanned, will give complete details of the respective polling booths.

“We have identified that one of the reasons for voters not going to the polling booths is because they don’t know the exact location. They may know the school, but they may not be able to locate it. So we thought that we will provide details of the polling booths in the form of the QR code and it will also show the map. When the QR code is scanned, it links to the Google Maps, so they can easily find their polling booths”, said Additional Chief Electoral Officer Venkatesh Kumar R.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer Venkatesh Kumar R briefing about how the QR codes will work.

Further, he said, “We plan to introduce this in Bengaluru and other municipal corporation limits with the voter information slip. Voters can easily access their polling stations. In rural areas, voters are usually aware of the schools and anganwadis which are designated as polling stations. Some voters from urban areas had given a representation that they are not able to locate the polling stations. Based on that, we have taken up this measure for the first time”.

The QR code will in introduced in the BBMP limits and the jurisdiction of 10 other city corporations. Voters in Belagavi, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Davanagere, Shivamogga, Mysuru, Tumakuru, Ballari, Dakshina Kannada, Bengaluru city, BBMP Central, BBMP North and BBMP South zones can look forward to quicker identification of their polling stations with the QR codes.
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