‘When using ration card as identity proof,entire family should vote’

With Pune district registering only 80 per cent coverage for the mandatory Election Photo Identity Card (EPICs),the Election Commission has allowed the use of ration card as alternative identity proof for polling,provided the entire family accompanies the ration card holder to the polling booth. This has been allowed as 20 per cent of the voter population does not have the voter I-card.

With ration card among 14 other documents as identity proof,Chief Election Commission Navin Chawla said the entire family must come together for voting when they are showing the ration card as identity proof on poll day. “This is to ensure a fool-proof voting procedure and also keep a check on bogus voting,” he said at a press meet here on Wednesay after reviewing the Assembly poll preparations. He reviewed the status of the entire Pune division and said rural areas had 90 per cent coverage for the cards.

Even as there was an increase of 20 per cent in the coverage from the Lok Sabha polls,the state was still far behind from other states such as Tamil Nadu,Pondicherry,Kerala,Rajasthan which have 100 per cent coverage,said Chawla.

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He also warned that FIRs will be registered against bogus voters. For checking smuggling of weapons and liquor into the state,border check posts were being monitored closely,he said.

He said women polling officers will not be involved in randomisation and will be allotted postings at places with toilet facilities,considering the complaints received during the Lok Sabha polls.