Another poll, yet no I-cards

But obviously something seems to have gone wrong somewhere.

In Gujarat, the task of preparing VICs was undertaken by the SED in two phases 1994-95 and 1995-96. 8220;During the initial three months, the exercise was received with great enthusiasm, but it soon waned,8221; says Chief Electoral Officer Balwant Singh. He said poor response to the exercise was one of the main reasons they had stopped issuing VICs.

Singh said by 1998 the SED had issued VICs to 80 per cent of the 2.87 crore voters, but the figure decreased to 78 per cent after around eight lakh new voters were added to the electoral rolls, which was recently revised.

Senior SED officials cite several reasons behind the poor response to the exercise. Firstly, the VIC served no purpose other than being an identification proof during polls. The credibility of the programme further nosedived due to large-scale cases of mismatch in voters8217; names and photographs that cropped up during the processing of VICs.

Of all these factors, however, the haste with which it was introduced throughout the country was the main reason for failure of the gargantuan exercise, they say. 8220;Seshan virtually imposed such a monumental programme on the country without taking into consideration its logistics and legal and financial aspects,8221; a senior SED official said.

He said Seshan8217;s circular, which was issued with a rider, No Identity Card, no voting8217;, gave the impression that exercising one8217;s voting right without an identity card had become illegal.

This was not true, because, as a SED official said, 8220;When some parties moved the court against the circular, the court accepted their plea that the Constitution does not debar any Indian citizen who is without a VIC from exercising his or her voting right.8221; He said the election laws also lay down that all those whose names figure in the electoral rolls should be given VICs as a means to facilitate their identification at the time of voting. Beyond that, claimed the official, even the election laws are silent and since the Constitution allows the people who are listed in the electoral rolls to exercise their vote, presiding officers POs cannot turn back any voter who does not have a VIC from the polling booth.

Officials, however, opine that the POs can ask the voter to prove his identity. 8220;But that is not possible because then around 42 per cent people in the country, who have not been issued identity cards, will have to go without exercising their voting rights,8221; he said, adding that if such a large chunk of the electorate was prevented from casting their votes, there would be a backlash which the Government would find difficult to tackle.

Officials suggest the VIC programme should have been introduced as a pilot project so that the people8217;s reaction could be judged and modifications made accordingly. Leaders of different political parties, when contacted, refused to comment saying implementation of the VIC programme came under the jurisdiction of the Election Commission.