ANY OF 11 DOCUMENTS CAN BE USED TO SUPPORT VOTER SLIPS

NEWDELHI:In an attempt to ensure that legitimate voters are not prevented from casting their votes for want of identification, the Election Commission has said apart from the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC), voters will be able to use as many as 11 documents, including passports, the Aadhaar document (the relevant parts of which many Indians have snipped out and made into Aadhaar cards), driving licences, and PAN cards as proof of identification at polling booths.

According to the Election Commission, as of 2014, more than 814 million people had been registered to vote in India.

On Thursday, the election conducting body also said in an order that photo voter slips will no longer be accepted as stand-alone identification documents for voting because these do not have any security features and can be misused. The order which comes days before the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls, says voters can also identify themselves through ID cards issued to state and central government employees, state-owned companies, and public limited companies; passbooks with photograph issued by banks or post offices; and smart cards issued by the Registrar General of India under the National Population Register.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) job cards; health insurance smart cards issued under the scheme of the ministry of labour; pension documents with photographs; and the official identity cards issued to members of Parliament, members of legislative assemblies, and members of legislative councils will be also be acceptable. Overseas electors will be required to produce their original passport for identification. These changes are being made to ensure that no voter is left out, said an EC official. The poll panel, which conducts polls to Lok Sabha as well as state assemblies, has also asked electoral officials to “overlook” minor discrepancies in EPICs, provided the identity of an elector can be established by it. “If an elector produces an EPIC which has been issued by the electoral registration officer of another assembly constituency, such a card shall also be accepted for identification, provided the name of that elector finds place in the electoral roll pertaining to the polling station where the elector has turned up for voting,” the order says. In case the identity of the elector cannot be established on account of a mismatch of photos, the elector will have to produce one of the above mentioned alternative photo documents, it said.