To be launched in the second week of April, it will answer queries like constituency of the person, polling stations, etc.
During the last Lok Sabha polls, we saw Malabar Hill resident — and Godrej group chairman — Adi Godrej hop from one polling station to another, desperately seeking to exercise his franchise. Godrej was not able to vote. And he was not the only one.
This time around, there is some good news. The collector office is coming up with a four-digit number as part of the ‘Voter Assistance Communication Facility’ (VACF) so that certain basic queries can be answered. To be launched in the second week of April in the city, the number ‘1290’ will answer queries like constituency of the person, the polling station, electoral part number and the serial number. The parliament elections for the six seats in the city are scheduled for April 30.
“This help line will be over and above the helpline the collector’s office has. With basic details in hand like the full name and address of residence, voter can get to know all the above details,” said city collector Idzes Kundan. Her area consists of two constituencies that will go for poll - Mumbai South and Mumbai South Central.
“Similar lines will be started by all the collectors. They will have to do it for their own respective districts. The other part of Mumbai could have four lines and there will be a different line for Thane,” said Debashish Chakravarthy, chief electoral officer.
The lines will be worked by sharing the data with MTNL. “The number will have 12 lines and we are training our staff for it. Trial runs have been conducted and as of now, data until February 22, 2009, is already uploaded. As the days pass, more data will be added to the server,” Kundan said.
In the beginning, the number can be contacted through a land line and later a person can also call from mobile phones, said the collector. “We plan to extend this service even after the general elections and on to the assembly elections. Data will be updated as time moves,” said Kundan.
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