The Meghalaya election department has issued an urgent advisory directing all block level officers (BLOs) to recover multiple electoral photo identity cards (EPIC) issued to the same voter.
The order was issued on February 12 marked as ‘Matter most urgent’. “All Booth Level Officers are hereby directed to immediately ascertain as to the number of duplicate EPICs received by the applicants within your respective Polling Stations. If any applicant found to have received more than 1 (one) EPIC in his/her name, the same is to be retrieved immediately and Form-7 is to be duly filled and signed by the applicant for necessary deletion,” a notification issued by the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner (Election) read.
“Action taken report is to be submitted by all Booth Level Officers as per the Formats I & II annexed within 2 (two) days from the date of issue of this order”, it added.
It may be mentioned that a number of voters in East Khasi Hills have received two or more voter identification cards (EPIC), some of which bear different ID numbers.
The new EPICs are being rolled out ahead of the much-awaited Lok Sabha elections, with the first ones distributed on National Voters Day, January 25.