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Several toll free numbers of EC, remain non-functional

Subodh Bhasin. Dated: 9/22/2018 12:21:39 PM

Subodh Bhasin
Jammu, Sep 21
With the announcement of local body poll dates in Jammu and Kashmir and are scheduled to be held in four phases. The administration and the voters across the state are gearing up. The voters are enthusiastic about the local bodies election as being held after a gap of many years.
People from the state have been looking for their names in the voter lists on the website, but shockingly the website of the concerned department is not updated as such, the website has the toll-free numbers for all 22 districts of the state but majority of them do not exist, rather it does not have any information.
Even the main helpline number ---11950 in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) mentioned on the website ‘does not exist’.
Candidates and tech-savvy voters are feeling disappointed due to non working of numbers causing great in Convenience to the people who are seeking their names in the voter list.
Talking too Young Bites correspondent Pooja Sharma said that we have been left with no option but to approach the concerned election department for vital information as the provided phone numbers given on the official website are not there or not working.
She added that even though the authorities announced the elections to the urban local bodies and panchayats on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, but the office is yet to update its website with valid toll-free numbers and the electoral rolls.
Talking to Young Bites correspondent Advocate Dinesh Singh Jamwal said that Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the right to information, as such Section 4 of the Right to Information Act under which eery public authority shall maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerised are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated.
He further added that in the age of digitalization everything should have been updated on the website, including forms and guidelines for the candidates. The ward-wise voter lists for the urban local bodies and halka-wise for the panchayats should have been on the website after the election date was announced.
Sanjay Sharma another voter who also felt disappointed over the non working of number said that If the website is updated, it will make it easy for the voters and contestants to get information and will reduce the work pressure on the election officers also.