Hyderabad: ‘1950’ election helpline answers over 300 queries a day

Along with tracking the application status of voter registrations and corrections, they also help with locating your polling station, downloading the E-EPIC, and identifying the Booth Level Officer for further assistance

Hyderabad: Tucked away in a corner of the GHMC head office in Khairatabad, around 26 operators split into three shifts are answering the calls made to the 1950 election helpline round-the-clock. Kickstarted on June 16 in the Hyderabad district for the upcoming polls, the nationwide helpline assists callers with everything related to elections.

Along with tracking the application status of voter registrations and corrections, they also help with locating your polling station, downloading the E-EPIC (Election Photo Identity Card), and identifying the Booth Level Officer (BLO) for further assistance.

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“Sometimes people have EPIC cards but their names are not there in the list. We try and locate them in the electoral roll using EPIC card, phone number, or name and then assist them accordingly,” explains an operator.

The facility which runs 24×7, and in a manner similar to customer service centres, gets over 300 calls per day, with an increased frequency in the morning and evening. Although the operators do not have the option to call back those who couldn’t connect to them due to busy lines, they say that most call back and get their issues resolved.

Apart from helping with electoral rolls-related queries, any complaints regarding the violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) can also be made to this helpline. The operators who receive such complaints, note down the details and escalate them to the MCC nodal officer.

Taking into account all the complaints being posted on X (formerly Twitter), one official is dedicated to monitoring the platform. Whenever a tweet about an MCC violation is posted – which for now is largely about the political hoardings on roads – details are collected and sent to the officers who then take necessary action.

For elections-related query/ complaint: Toll-free numbers 1950 and 1800-599-2999