• MCC aims to link 10,000 voters in each Ward during the day
• Booth Level Officers go door-to-door
• Initiative aims to curb electoral fraud, avoid voter duplication

Mysore/Mysuru: A day-long special drive for linking Aadhaar card with Voter ID card of citizens began this morning across the city.

The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is carrying out the drive following instructions from the State Election Commission. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the aim of the exercise is to establish the identity of electors and authenticate entries in the electoral roll.

People who are willing to link their Aadhaar numbers with the electoral roll can do it by filling a new Form 6B.  Following the passing of Election Laws (Amendment) Bill by the Lok Sabha in Dec.2021, the Central Government recently introduced the system of linking an individual’s Aadhaar number with Voter ID card in order to curb electoral fraud and also to avoid errors such as voter duplication on the electoral roll. The Government and the ECI authorities then had said that Aadhaar- voter ID linking is voluntary.

The MCC launched the special drive at all polling booths across the city at 10 am today.

Earlier in the morning, the MCC officials and staff visited homes from 7 am to 10 am as most people will be available at their homes in this period and got their Aadhaar numbers linked  with voter ID at their doorstep by following due steps, laid out by the Election Commission.

The staff, led by Booth Level Officers (BLO) took an initiative on their own to visit homes  and appealed people who were not available to visit their respective  polling booths for the linking, which will go on till evening. Local Corporators and booth-level agents of all political parties too joined hands with the MCC staff for ensuring the success of the initiative, with the MCC setting a target of linking at least 10,000 voters in each MCC ward during the special drive.

Apart from this, the linking is taking  place on a mass scale  at places of large public gatherings such as Samskrutika Bhavan, behind MysoreOne Centre in Gokulam 3rd Stage, Samudaya Bhavan in Medar Block, Nirmala Convent in Vontikoppal, Government Higher Primary School, Kukkarahalli and Mathrumandali Educational Institutions, Vontikoppal where public response was good, according to sources.

MCC Deputy Commissioner M.K. Savitha, who is in-charge of Aadhaar-Voter ID linking drive, visited some of the polling booths and Samudaya Bhavan in Medar Block, where area Corporator Ravindra was present.

It may be mentioned here that the MCC had formally launched the drive by linking MCC Commissioner G. Lakshmikantha Reddy’s Aadhaar card to Voter ID recently.