Election Commission Unhappy with State’s EPIC Coverage

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Sep 2: The Election Commission is unhappy with the state's perfomance in the coverage of elector’s photo identity cards (EPIC).
               
This information was revealed by the state’s chief electoral officer C S Suranjana,  who pointed out that the EPIC coverage was cent per cent in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
               
Suranjana said the EPIC coverage in the capital city of Bangalore, which has had a notorious record in voters' turnout in the recent series of elections as compared to other parts of the state, is a dismal below 50 per cent.

The EPIC coverage in the entire state was 81 per cent while it was less than 50 per cent in Bangalore city, Suranjana said.

He pointed out that there were 23 lac residual voters (voters who have enrolled their names in the electoral rolls) in the city but they have not obtained EPIC.

The Election Commission launched a massive campaign in June to collect photographs of the eligible voters to issue EPICs.

Photographs of as many as seven lac voters had been collected during the door-to-door campaign by the officials. EPICs would be issued to them in a month’s time, he said.

There are 1.15 crore residual voters in the rest of the state.
 
The Election Commission had collected photographs of 51.46 lac voters during the campaign in June. EPICs would be issued to them in a month. With this, the EPIC coverage in the state would increase to 95 per cent, he said.

Referring to the enforcement of model code of conduct (MCC) in Gulbarga South and Kadur constituencies, which would go for bypolls on September 13, the CEO said nine and five cases were booked in the constituencies, respectively.

Four cases were booked against BJP leaders and three cases against the JD(S) leaders/supporters. Liquor worth about Rs 45 lac was seized in both constituencies, he said and four persons were arrested in Gulbarga South and two in Kadur for violation of the MCC.

He mentioned that Raju Narayana Swamy, IAS, secretary, general education, Kerala and Navdeep Rinwa, IAS, Uttar Pradesh cadre, have been appointed as observers for Gulbarga South and Kadur constituencies respectively.

The percentage of EPIC holders in Gulbarga South was 67.5 while it was 85 in Kadur.

Three candidates in Gulbarga South assembly and eleven in Kadur assembly are in the fray, Suranjana added.