Lok Sabha Elections 2024: How to cast a vote if you live in a different city?

The massive parliamentary elections in India are being held in seven parts, starting on 19 April and ending on 1 June, ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha term conclusion on 16 June 2024.

The results will be announced on 4 June.

A problem that many voters face as the second round of voting approaches on 26 April is that they are not in their designated voting district.

Location, however, shouldn’t be an excuse for denying someone their democratic right to vote.

Here’s a quick guide on how to cast a vote even if you’re residing in a different city.

Voting in Lok Sabha elections 2024 from another city

Verifying voter registration status

The initial step is to check your voter registration status. It may be done online via the official website of the Election Commission of India or by contacting your local Electoral Registration Officer.

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Voter ID transfer

Applying for a voter ID transfer is required if you have relocated but still want to be able to vote in your previous constituency.

You must submit a form asking for a transfer of your voter registration from one constituency to another to do this.

You can complete this online or at the closest office for voter registration.

Submit documents

While submitting the transfer form, you’ll be required to share certain documents, like a passport-sized colour photograph and photocopies of valid documents for age verification such as birth certificate, transcripts from classes 10, 8 and 5, Indian passport, PAN card, driver’s license, and Aadhar letter issued by UIDAI.

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Proof of your current residence will also be required. Select acceptable address-proof documents, including a passport, driver’s license, passbook, ration card, IT assessment order, rental agreement, utility bills (water, telephone, electricity, gas), or a letter from the Indian postal department.

Verification

The voter registration officer will start the verification process when you have turned in the required documents. The officer may also visit your current location to verify the details.

Confirmation

The voter ID will be transferred to your current constituency following the successful verification process, and you will receive a confirmation through the communication method you choose when completing the form.

Make sure you have your voter ID card with you on election day so you may cast your vote.

No matter where you live currently, your vote matters in forming the democratic process and shaping the future of this country.

Big names in the fray in LS polls phase two

The second phase of Lok Sabha polls is scheduled for Friday, 26 April.

All 20 seats in Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats in each of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura, and Jammu and Kashmir will all go to polls.

Leaders of the major political parties crisscrossed the constituencies on Wednesday evening to gain support for their candidates as the second phase of poll campaigning came to an end.

Among the main contenders for the second round of the Lok Sabha elections are Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, as well as actor-turned-politician Arun Govil.

Hema Malini, Om Birla, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat of the BJP are vying for a hat-trick of victories in their respective constituencies.

Gandhi is running for reelection as the Wayanad MP from Kerala. He is up against K Surendran of the BJP and Annie Raja of the CPI. Gandhi defeated his nearest rival, P P Suneer of the CPI, by a wide margin of more than seven lakh votes in the 2019 election.

Shashi Tharoor, a senior Congress leader and former Union minister, is attempting to win back the Thiruvananthapuram seat a fourth time. He is up against Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP and CPI’s Pannyan Raveendran.

Casting his electoral debut against BSP’s Devvrat Kumar Tyagi and SP’s Sunita Verma, Arun Govil, best known for his portrayal of Lord Ram in the Ramayan TV series, is replacing three-time MP Rajendra Agarwal, who has held the Meerut seat since 2004.

Malini, who has served as the Mathura constituency’s representative since 2014, is running against Congress leader Mukesh Dhangar, while Om Birla, a two-term Kota MP, is up against Congress’s Prahlad Gunjal.

Union minister Shekhawat is eyeing a third win from the Jodhpur seat while Congress candidate Karan Singh Uchiyarda would look to put a spanner in the works of the BJP candidate.

Tejasvi Surya, the sitting MP for Bangalore South and the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), will face Congress’ Sowmya Reddy.

Former chief minister of Chhattisgarh and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel is contesting from Rajnandgaon, a stronghold of the BJP for over 30 years. Baghel is pitted against BJP’s Santosh Pandey, who won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections succeeding Abhishek Singh, the son of former Chief Minister Raman Singh, also from the BJP.

With All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal returning to the Lok Sabha poll race after 2014, the contest for the Alappuzha seat in Kerala has become a high-profile fight for the grand old party as it attempts to reclaim the one-seat it lost to the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in its resounding 19-1 victory in Kerala in the 2019 elections.

Venugopal has not lost any major election in his career. He won the Alappuzha Assembly seat thrice in a row in 1996, 2001, and 2006 and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Alappuzha in 2009 and 2014. In 2019, he did not contest after the party elevated him to the post of the AICC general secretary.

From Thrissur, actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi is competing against Congress’s K Muraleedharan and CPI(M) leader VS Sunil Kumar.

The current BJP MP for West Bengal’s Balurghat, Sukanta Majumdar, is running for reelection. He is up against Joydeb Siddhanta of the Revolutionary Socialist Party and Biplab Mitra of the Trinamool Congress.

With inputs from PTI