‘Had applied for new voter card, know how tedious it can be’

Only months from now, a familiar sense of guilt will gnaw at the conscience of Ahmedabad resident Namrata Gupta-Garg. Along with her husband Ankit, who is currently pursuing an MBA at IIM-A, and their son Vibhav, the homemaker will soon be moving to Mumbai, Ankit's new place of work. Here, Namrata, who hails from Delhi and has an MBA in marketing, will find she can't vote in the general elections despite wanting to as the election rulebook demands she register in her new place of residence or go back home to vote.
"Flying to Delhi with family for a day won't be feasible," says Namrata, which means that once again, her voter's card will be just as redundant as it had been during the 2014 general elections, when Ankit's job saw them shift to Bengaluru.
The homemaker's polling-day conundrum is shared by crores of women in India who follow their spouses to various cities as they move for jobs and are unable to register as voters in their temporary place of residence.
Till 2013, Namrata had been a diligent voter. Then, when marriage saw her move into a home in Dwarka in Delhi, she had decided to apply for a fresh voter ID card along with her husband at their new address.
The process of applying for the card in Delhi took longer than it should have, recalls Namrata.
Various things came in the way.
For one, finding the right electoral office took a while and, on top of that, the locality the couple had moved to was registered under a different name than the one reflected in their documents. However, not long after the hassles were resolved and the cards arrived at their doorstep, Ankit landed a job in Bengaluru.
"We moved into a rented apartment there in March 2014, and the elections were in April," said Namrata. "Since we had gone through the process of applying for a new voter's card, we knew how tedious the process was." Further, they were aware that applying would be pointless as she'd have to show proof of having lived for at least a few months in the new city. On the other hand, the logistics of flying to Delhi for a day to vote while still adjusting to a new city was daunting for the couple.
Since then, the family has been on the move, shifting to Delhi for a short while before setting up home in Ahmedabad. Today, as they prepare for a new life in Mumbai, Namrata wishes their voting cards "were valid throughout India. It's important for me to vote regardless of the city in which I live."