Voting takes a couple of minutes once you are inside. Most of the uncertainty is about what happens in those minutes, so here is the whole sequence, in order.
Before polling day
Three things, none of which can be fixed on the morning itself.
- Confirm your name is on the electoral roll. Being 18 and an Indian citizen is not enough; you have to be registered.
- Find your assigned polling booth and note your part number and serial number.
- Check which identity document to carry. Your EPIC is the standard one.
If you have a voter information slip from your Booth Level Officer, bring it. It speeds up the desk search, but it is not proof of identity on its own.
At the booth, step by step
The queue. Separate queues for men and women are common, and there is usually priority entry for elderly voters, pregnant women and persons with disability. Say so on arrival if that applies to you.
First polling officer. They find your entry on the roll and check your identity document. Quoting your part and serial number turns a long search into a few seconds.
Second polling officer. They apply indelible ink to your left index finger and record your entry in the register. You sign or give a thumb impression.
Third polling officer. They hand you a slip and release the ballot on the control unit. The ballot unit will not accept a press until this happens.
The voting compartment. You are alone behind a screen. Press the blue button beside your choice, once. NOTA is the last option, below the final candidate.
Check the VVPAT. A slip prints showing the serial number, name and symbol you chose, visible through a small window for about seven seconds before it drops into a sealed box. This is your only chance to confirm the machine recorded what you intended, and most voters never look. See EVMs and VVPAT.
Listen for the beep. It confirms the vote was recorded. Then leave; you do not take the slip.
What not to do
- Do not take photographs inside. Phone cameras in the voting compartment breach ballot secrecy and are an offence.
- Do not press twice. The machine takes one vote; a second press does nothing and only causes confusion.
- Do not let anyone accompany you into the compartment unless you have asked for assistance on disability grounds and the presiding officer has approved it.
If something goes wrong
Your name cannot be found. Ask staff to search by part and serial number rather than by name; transliterated spellings defeat name searches on entries that are present.
Someone has already voted in your name. Tell the presiding officer. There is a procedure for a tendered ballot, and it only works if you raise it there and then.
The VVPAT slip does not match. Say so immediately to the presiding officer. There is a formal complaint procedure, and it too only works while you are still at the booth.
Every polling station has a presiding officer who decides these questions. Party agents sitting at the booth are not officials and do not decide who votes.
The national voter helpline is 1950.
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