ECI allows citizens above 17 years to apply for Voter ID card in advance

With this move, youngsters above 17 years of age can now apply in advance for having their names enrolled in the Voter’s list and not necessarily have to wait for the pre-requisite criterion of attaining the age of 18 years as on the 1st January of a year.

New Delhi: The poll body led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey "has directed the CEOs/EROs/AEROs of all States to work out tech-enabled solutions such that the youth are facilitated to file their advance applications with reference to three subsequent qualifying dates i.e. 01st April, 01st July and 01st October and not just 1st January."

After getting the registration process done, he/she will be issued an Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC). For the current round of annual revision of the electoral roll, 2023, any citizen attaining the age of 18 years by April 1, July 1, and October 1 of 2023 can also submit an advance application for registration as a voter from the date of draft publication of electoral roll, said poll body in a statement.

The poll body has also made the Registration Forms more user-friendly and simpler. The newly modified forms will come into force on 1st August 2022. All applications (claims and objections), in old forms, received before 1st August 2022 will be processed and disposed of and in such cases, there is no need to file applications in new forms, said ECI. The Commission has ordered an Annual Summary Revision with reference to 01.01.2023 as the qualifying date in all States except the poll-bound states.

"The revision activities to begin in November include disposal of claims and objections received after publication of integrated draft electoral roll. Under the Special Summary Revision, a one-month period is available to file claims and objections in the draft electoral roll. Special camps will be organized by CEOs on weekends for which the date will be publicized by concerned CEOs. The final electoral roll will be published on 5th January 2023" said the poll body.

As part of the Annual Summary Revision, polling stations, having more than 1500 electors, shall be rationalized/modified as per the given schedule and before the draft publication of electoral rolls in accordance with instructions contained in Manual on Polling Station, 2020. For linking of AADHAR number with Electoral Roll data, provision has been made in the modified registration forms to seek Aadhaar details of electors.

"A new Form-6B has also been introduced for collecting Aadhaar number of existing electors. However, no application for inclusion of name in electoral roll shall be denied and no entries in electoral roll shall be deleted for the inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar Number," said the poll body.

Talking about multiple entries, the poll body said that the "Detailed Procedure of Deletion of Repeat/Multiple Entries has been specified. In repeated/multiple entries reported by individual citizens, BLAs of political parties, or RWA representatives, field verification is mandatorily done in each and every case. Name of the elector would be deleted in the electoral roll only at the place where he/she is not found to be ordinarily residing," the statement further said.