Why Attend Voter Registration Camps in India?

Each constituency in India has a list of voters who vote for their representatives in Parliament. In recent years, voter registration has become an essential part of the democratic process set up by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Every couple of years/months, Voters are given the opportunity to address issues regarding their voter ID card – Issue new Voter Cards, rectify existing identity card, get a duplicate voter card, etc.

As per the norms in democracy, elections are held after every few years to ensure the government is elected by the majority of the people of India. Voters who have attained the age of 18, reside in India, and have their names listed in the electoral roll are allowed to vote. However, a special photo-identity card or voter card is required for casting votes during an election.

If you are a valid voter but your election card is not updated or your name is not in the voters list, here is your chance. You can attend voter registration camps organized by local election commissions to update the same.

Implementing Voter Registration

The ECI was set up keeping in mind free and fair elections in India. From updating voters list to issuing voter card, educating people about the ways elections are held, and lot more, the ECI has a list of tasks to perform. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) – head of ECI – appointed State Election Commissioners (SEC) in a bid to ensure that the tasks for each state are delegated to the state election offices.

Accordingly, each SEC has been organizing voter registration camps at various towns and cities to ensure voters in that region can come across and address their issues.

For instance, some camps were held at Kumbh, Lucknow, Mumbai, and various popular sites in India. For making this project successful, many NGOs, colleges, and volunteers have been roped in.

What Happens at a Voter Registration Site?

Various voter registration kiosks are set up during the voter registration day. There, voters are allowed to visit the camps. The volunteers and election authorities perform the following tasks:

• Register a new voter in the voter list.
• Update voter list by including the name of the valid voter or deleting the name of the voter who no longer resides in the constituency.
• Register a voter for voter ID card in case he or she does not have one.
• Update the voter ID card of a voter, such as change of information in the I-card.
• Issue duplicate card in case the electoral card is mutilated, damaged or lost.

…And, due care is taken to ensure that the voters learn about what they are supposed to do during elections. Educating the voters about electronic voter machine, confidential voting, and voting at the right place against the candidate or party they wish to vote is a part of the task done during a voter registration camping session.

Importance of Voter Registration

As per the amendment of the R.P. Act, photo-identity card was issued under the EPIC scheme. It is a must for voters to have the card and name included in the electoral roll. Although the SEC conducts door-to-door campaign to induct new voters into the voters list and issue fresh voters card, the campaign takes place after every 10 years. Voters can also apply for the same online but you can do the job in a quicker and effective way by visiting the voter registration camps.

So, voter registration camps is quite effective and helpful to voters to register as valid voters. It also helps ECI to streamline election-related work faster and efficiently.