11 other documents, including voter slip, have been prescribed as alternative
Picture for representational purpose.
Thiruvananthapuram: The Election Commission is likely to insist on electoral photo identity card (EPIC) for voting in the Lok Sabha elections, even as 11 other documents, including the voter slip, have been prescribed as alternative.
Chief electoral officer Ms. Nalini Netto has said that in case a person who has been issued an EPIC turns up for voting without the card, but produces any of the 11 other documents prescribed by the commission, he/she will have to give an affidavit citing the genuine reason for not producing the EPIC. “We are awaiting further clarifications from the Election Commission of India,” she said.
Apart from the voters’ slip being distributed by booth-level officers to all voters, passport, driving licence, bank passbooks with photograph, Aadhaar card, health card and PAN card are among the documents prescribed by the commission.
The voting hours will be from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., while it was only till 5 p.m. so far. Basic minimum facilities, including ramp, will be provided at the 21,242 booths. Availability of wheel chairs would be also explored by the officials. Auxiliary booths will have to be set up at three polling stations, one each in Thrissur, Palakkad and Ernakulam, where the total number of voters has crossed 1,700 which is the maximum number prescribed by the EC for each booth.
The EC and police are regularly monitoring the sensitivity of each booth and a final decision will be taken two days ahead of the polls. So far, 45 companies of armed police personnel from other states were sanctioned for the state and ten more are expected to be allotted, said Ms. Netto.
As part of security arrangements, 242 illegal arms manufacturing centres across the state were raided, preventive section of CrPC invoked against 1,752 persons and 26,032 non-bailable warrants executed.
( Source : dc correspondent )
Next Story
