Pune: Over seven lakh electoral photo identity cards ( EPIC ) that electors use as identification while casting their votes are still pending with the lone vendor in the state, election officials said. The card is issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to all voters. Earlier, 27 lakh EPICs were pending, but they reduced over time.
"Of the seven lakh pending cards, around one lakh are ready and we should be able to distribute them. It should be cleared before the assembly poll," a senior ECI official said. ECI officials admitted that it is a load on the designated vendor but said they have directed the state govt to ensure the cards are distributed at the earliest.
Districts have been told to share the data on eligible voters without EPICs. "EPIC is generated after every correction and we have only one vendor. Districts have to share their voters' data, which goes to the printer via the Chief Electoral Officer.
At present, with voter registrations ending on October 19, more voter ID cards need to be printed," the official said. Saturday was the last day of the enrolment drive ahead of the Nov 20 assembly election . Many citizens complained that they had a hard time submitting voter registration forms online.
However, the numbers are likely to have increased with people applying for data correction or as new voter. Those who lost EPICs would have also applied. Officials said they have had several meetings with the vendor to speed up the process so voters get EPICs on .