Bengaluru: Four days after Karnataka State Election Commission published the draft voter list for elections to the five city corporations under Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), citizens continued to struggle to access the rolls due to repeated website glitches. Residents said the official portal was inaccessible or slow for long periods, preventing them from checking whether their names were on the voter list or not.The issue is worrying as voters have only a 15-day window to verify their details, raise objections or seek corrections. Several residents said the website was accessible briefly Wednesday, but remained down or sluggish for most of Thursday, adding to confusion and anxiety.
Apart from technical glitches, citizens flagged the absence of a direct search option on the website as a major concern. Each ward has more than 10 polling stations, with over 700 voters listed under each station. With recent ward delimitation and voters split across different wards, residents said manually searching through multiple large PDF files is extremely time-consuming and frustrating. Domlur resident Shivakumar said: “Voters are being kept in a state of suspense and confusion. The list was published, but it is unclear who actually has access to it. Sufficient time should be given for people to make necessary corrections.” Another citizen, who did not wish to be named, said, “Congress or Rahul Gandhi, who accused the Central Election Commission and BJP of making it difficult for people to search electoral rolls, did exactly the same thing in Karnataka for civic elections.” Residents pointed to discrepancies between the GBA voter list and Election Commission of India (ECI) database. Ritika Bali, citizen volunteer working to promote voter awaerness and participation, told TOI, “I searched for my apartment name in the draft voter list for Bellandur ward under GBA but could not find it. I reviewed multiple polling-station-wise PDF files in detail, however, the process was extremely time-consuming. The files are large, and each must be searched manually, making verification difficult for ordinary citizens. While my EPIC number clearly reflects my voter details on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website, the same information could not be located in the draft voter list. A more citizen-friendly, searchable system would significantly ease verification, help residents raise timely queries and encourage wider public participation in the electoral process.” Citizens fear such a complicated and unfriendly process could discourage people from verifying their details altogether. Responding to concerns, the GBA election department said efforts are under way to introduce a search option that will allow voters to easily access their names on the electoral list. The team promised to check and rectify the website issues at the earliest.
