Voters to get SMS alerts on polling stations,reminders to exercise franchise

Called an e-slip,the message to voters will contain their name,enrollment number and polling station data. The state EC will soon start the process of collecting cellphone numbers of all registered voters who desire to avail of the service.

Simultaneously,the state EC along with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will initiate a drive to raise awareness and ensure maximum enrollment and voter turnout,said a civic official.

The drive is expected to start in August and will rope in NGOs and political parties. “Through the drive,we will also give out a number on which the citizens should message their details and ask if they have any election-related queries including their registered names,names of candidates in their respective wards and so on. Once we have their cellphone numbers on our list,we will update them with details about their polling booths,” said Goyal.

The drive will also encourage voters to go and check whether their name is on the voters list,indicate to the EC if there has to be a change of name in the electoral list,include deaths or change of addresses,said Goyal.

While the election process will be handled by the state EC,around 450 BMC officials will be on poll duty in a phased manner. As many as 52 officials have joined election duty in the first phase.

According to a senior official,based on population estimates available with the state EC on the basis of the recently conducted Census 2011,the number of eligible voters in Mumbai is likely to touch one crore. The electorate has grown progressively from 66.17 lakh in 1992 to 83.88 lakh in the 2007 polls.