Bengaluru: With Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) lagging behind the rest of Karnataka in collecting and digitising voter enumeration forms, booth-level officers (BLOs) have turned to handheld speakers and klaxons to urge residents to submit them before the draft electoral rolls are prepared.During the weekend special drive, BLOs moved through neighbourhoods, especially slum pockets, broadcasting recorded messages in Kannada and Hindi asking voters to return completed forms or visit designated centres for assistance.In Chickpet assembly constituency, an enumerator walked through the locality carrying a blue handheld speaker similar to those used by street vendors. “Those who have filled the forms should submit them. Those who cannot fill them can come to MMS School for assistance,” the announcer said in Kannada and Hindi.The message also urged voters unable to provide electoral details dating back to 2002 to submit whatever information they currently have. “Those who do not have 2002 details should fill in the information available with them and submit the form,” it said.A similar campaign was conducted in Ragigudda slum of JP Nagar II Phase, where residents were warned that failure to return the completed enumeration forms to BLOs could result in their names being left out of the voter list.Chief electoral officer Anbukkumar told TOI that several parts of Bengaluru adopted such measures during the weekend drive to encourage voters to complete and submit their forms.While the city has achieved 100% distribution of enumeration forms, GBA continues to trail the rest of the state in collecting them. Election Commission data available till 4pm Monday showed that about 57% of Bengaluru’s 1 crore electorate was yet to be digitally recorded after form submission.Election Commission officials said distributing the forms is the commission’s responsibility, but returning them rests with voters.GBA chief commissioner Maheshwar Rao said BLOs have been instructed to meet the deadlines. “BLOs are working hard. We are looking at a 5% improvement every day,” he said.
