Faulty voter I-cards dog citizens,again

The officer admitted that it would be a lengthy process for these voters. “Those having problems with their I-cards will have to fill Form 8 and then get it corrected.”

The voters are also exasperated with the procedure. Sushma Sheth has got her EPIC card with a wrong photo and even wrong address,while her son Makrand’s name is spelt as Makar. “We faced several problems in the Lok Sabha polls. Now even though we had submitted the photos for the photo ID drive sufficiently early,the same problems have surfaced again,” she said.

NIBM resident Sushil Kumar has his name printed as SP Nair Sushil Kumar while his wife’s name is registered as Usha Kumar Shinde. “We don’t know when we will get the corrected EPIC card,” he said.

And they are not the only ones. Savita from Kothrud has a man’s photo on her card. When she returned it to the officers,she was told that she would have to go to the Kothrud assembly constituency for getting the changes made.

Meanwhile,the district election department that has registered 64.48 lakh voters claims it will cover all the voters. “We will put up election kiosks outside the polling booths two days prior to the election to complete the process,” said the officer.

It is the rural areas that have maximum the EPIC coverage. Bhor assembly constituency leads the list,followed by Indapur,Ambegaon and Baramati. The eight assembly constituencies in the city have only about 70 per cent coverage.

Dist administration to act tough on code violators

The district administration has decided to act tough on those violating election code of conduct. Collector Chandrakant Dalvi held a meeting with representatives of all political parties and election observers to ensure that violators are brought to the book.

Dalvi said the administration will take action against poll violations that includes defacement of property,illegal sale of liquor and misuse of vehicle. All necessary precautions have been taken in 116 places that are declared as sensitive segments in the district. In the run up to the assembly elections,788 firearms have been seized. District election officers said that nearly seven lakh cards have been distributed and another five lakh have been taken up for distribution. The charge to address complaints regarding voters names addresses has been given to the respective electoral registration officer of the constituency. This time the administration will put up constituency wise list in every electoral office. Citizens are expected to check their names in the voter’s list.

ENS