BBMP's new app tracks queues at polling stations

Voters in the upcoming Assembly elections need not worry about long queues as a new mobile app will give them real-time updates on the queues at every polling station.

The app has been jointly developed by the district electoral office and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to woo urban voters to the polling stations.

As pointed out by the Election Commission on Wednesday, voter apathy remains a big challenge. In the 2018 Assembly polls, Bengaluru recorded a mere 55.04 per cent votes.

“There were concerns about the waiting time at the polling booths and the lack of parking space. This application will give real-time updates on the situation at the polling booths. We are also marking parking lots close to the polling booths,” said Tushar Girinath, BBMP Chief Commissioner and Bengaluru District Election Officer.

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Officials said polling booth staff will update the app every hour. The app will mention the number of voters in queue and the time it would take to cast the vote.

Officials are also holding a series of engagements with Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) and citizen groups to encourage people to exercise their franchise.

19 constituencies expenditure-sensitive; 25 per cent polling booths critical

Of the 28 Assembly constituencies in Bengaluru, 19 have been marked expenditure-sensitive with officials proposing two more to be added to the list in the next few days.

“In the sensitive constituencies, two additional assistant expenditure observers will be appointed to prevent overspending by candidates,” Girinath said.

Among the 8,615 polling booths, 2,217 are declared critical due to a history of poll violence, high number of non-EPIC voter turnout and other reasons. Some booths are marked vulnerable since voters might get easily influenced by their “social and economic strata”.

At least 38,000 staff will be on duty across the city on voting day, on May 10.