Voter Helpline — Karnataka Lok Sabha 2024

Two days before the Karnataka Lok Sabha election polling day, ABF — along with civil society members, NGOs, and ground volunteers — launched a helpline initiative to address voter-data problems: mismatched details, missing names, and unknown booth locations.

Set up overnight

The idea was conceived Wednesday at midnight. The IVR was operational within hours. The team started with 10 volunteers and grew to 40+ within 48 hours — mothers, students, lawyers, scientists, retired professionals — none with prior polling experience.

Helpline Setup: Voter Helpline was set up in less than 2 hours.

— Bangalore Mirror, “Race to Lok Sabha: Citizens’ group sets up 24×7 call centres”

Outcome

• 10,000+ calls received
• 80% of problems resolved
• Voter slips identified for 60%+ of callers
• 8,748 calls in the first 48 hours

Why it mattered

This was a citizens’ initiative to uphold the essence of democracy — to remove the friction between people and their right to vote. It was a textbook case of how regular citizens, with the right tooling and the right intent, can supplement the formal democratic process.

What’s next

The model is documented and ready to share with civil society groups in other Indian states ahead of future elections.