My First Experience - Is India Changing?

BBMP – Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Pallike
ECI – Election Commission of India
EPIC – Electoral Photo Identity Card
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
RTI – Right To Information
VFC – Voter Facilitation Center
Form 6 – Application for inclusion of a person in electoral roll

Everything has a beginning. This story too has one!

An election official came to our house in Vijayawada for voters list updation. When he went through the names of voters registered in our address, it had names like Yellamma, Venkatayya. Luckily among those 6 voters in our house according to ECI, my mom and dad are also there. I could have easily got a Voter Id then. But when he asked me,“Do you stay here?”, of all words it could think of, my stupid brain answered,“No, I just completed my B. Tech in NIT Trichy and will be working in Bangalore”. An opportunity was lost. That was when I decided to become a voter. But I did nothing until someone sent me a mail of Jaago Re movement. I almost deleted it ( one of my stupid habits ), though due to some reason decided to check it out. Its slogan “One billion votes” is really inspiring. It has all the election related rules in FAQ format. I shall tell you the two sentences which caught my attention.

Six months of stay at any place makes you eligible to be in electoral roll of that constituency. All you require is an Id proof (Passport) and Address Proof (Telephone Bill or Rental Agreement).

I started doing the calculation mentally. I joined TI on July 7. So I need to wait until Jan 7. After Jan 7, I filled out Form 6 available on the site. Believe it or not, Jaago Re website mailed the pdf of filled out Form 6 and Name, Address, Phone numbers of Electoral Registration Officer of my constituency.

Wait, its not over yet. Its easy filling out a form on-line. Anyone could do it. But submitting and following it up is the most difficult task. I called up after thinking for two to three days what to ask? First phone number gave no response. Second phone number asked me to contact third phone number. Third phone number asked me to contact second phone number! Yes, I am stuck here. This is how it would have ended.

Suddenly things started happening. I read an advertisement in The Hindu about 14 VFCs being opened in Bangalore alone. “What if VFCs are opened, their timings will be different from ours”, thats what I thought. Thanks to Google Search, I found website named ceokarnataka.nic.in which contains the addresses of VFCs! Could you believe it? They are open on weekends too and timings are 4pm to 8pm! One VFC is near our area. I noted down the address and started searching for it. What surprised me was, I met around 5 people also searching for it. Finally after one hour, I found it. I could have said “Eureka!”. Sadly it was past 8pm by then. So I came next day and started searching for some official to submit my form. Finally I could find one. He asked me to take a xerox of it and come tomorrow. I immediately replied “No, I will bring now itself”. Thoughts suddenly started pouring into my mind. “He is one of those corrupt officials. He will make me come repeatedly for silly things and I may finally need to bribe him”. When I took the xerox and gave it to him, he checked it and asked me to collect EPIC after 10 days. He explained that pending address verification is the reason for the delay.

After two weeks, I went to VFC, showed the receipt and asked for status. He told me that there was no date of acceptance of application on the receipt. So he has to search the entire database. It is time consuming and since there was heavy rush, he asked me to come tomorrow. When I went the next day, he asked me to come in the afternoon. Again those corrupt thoughts started entering my mind. When I went in the afternoon, he searched for my name and issued the EPIC!

Many applicants were angry about the delay. But the officials were cool, willing to listen and explain the reasons for the delay. Best of all, they were prepared to stay beyond mandated working hours.

P.S –

Motivation for writing this is to thank everything that helped me become a voter.
Person who sent me the mail of Jaago Re movement
Jaago Re website sponsored by Tata Tea and Janaagraha ( If you drink tea, then drink Tata :) )
ECI and BBMP for opening VFCs
The Hindu for creating awareness about VFCs Google Search for directing me to ceokarnataka.nic.in
Yahoo Maps for helping me find the address of VFC
Texas Instruments for transport and printouts
VFC Officials for their dedication
NIT Trichy for helping me in getting passport – Id proof and
My room mates who asked me what am I doing to change the status quo during that discussion on Income Tax which encouraged me to become a voter.

Motivation for sharing this
I thought Government Officials are lazy and corrupt. I blame them for everything. For example, I never applied for a gas connection. My thinking is that even if I do apply, I will never get it.

But this entire episode presents a different picture. They are young, dynamic and willing to improve the system. They are people like us. They are changing. Why not we?And now we have tools which are absent previously – RTI and Internet for example.

A new young generation is replacing the old guard. Yes, India is changing. Whether its for good or bad is in our hands now. Success or failure, blame is entirely on us.

I would be most happy if this inspires any one of you to become a voter. Hope, this isn't too late. And remember, you can't blame the government now. Its working harder to get us enrolled as voters than we actually do!