EC, BMC launch special app for voters

Mumbai: The Election Commission and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have launched a new Android mobile application to help Mumbaikars with information related to the BMC polls, which will be held in February. The application is called True Voter, and is equipped for use by citizens, government officials and candidates alike. A civic official said the application would give information about electoral wards, the nearest polling booth for app users, voter IDs and information about local candidates.

The application is already available for Android phones with election-related information from local bodies across Maharashtra. The BMC is presently in the process of integrating its data into the app, which will be ready for the BMC polls by January end or the first week of February. A civic official said, “The app originally belongs to the state Election Commission. We are going to be using it for the BMC polls as well, and the work is on.”  

The app will be equipped with information from a recent survey by the municipal corporation that maps households across the city via a geographical information survey (GIS). Voters will be able to check which electoral ward they belong to, as the civic body conducted a ward delimitation exercise last year, and new electoral ward boundaries were formed.

Throwing light on the novel software, an official said, “Many citizens do not vote because of lack of awareness. They either cannot find time to check and collect their voter ID or they are not aware of the electoral ward they belong to, or which polling booth they must go to for casting their vote. Those things will be easier, as information is now on their phones.”

There were 89.41 lakh voters in Mumbai, during the 2012 elections, and an addition of 2.97 lakh voters was made to this list for the elections of 2017.