Lok Sabha elections: Gujarati service of ECI's helpline defunct

With the 2019 Lok Sabha elections just a few days away, the 1950 Election Commission of India (ECI) voter helpline, is partly defunct. Voters can call the helpline for days but do not get a response. All that a voter gets is an audio message saying “all operators are busy and cannot respond at this time”.


TOI checked several times and sent recorded messages to Gujarat chief electoral officer (CEO) S Murali Krishna, who asked district collectors to check the status of the voter helpline in their district.

Ahmedabad collector Vikrant Pandey, after checking the helpline, accepted that callers were facing a problem. He said, “We have checked. The Gujarati option is not working as it is not routing calls to ECI assistants and then drops calls. The English service is running fine. We will correct this.”

With an eye on the looming general election, the ECI strengthened its voter helpline, to help voters get authentic information about their registration. The helpline’s range of services had apparently been enhanced and made more accessible.