Photo I-cards made
compulsory for polls
Sandesh Prabhudesai
28 July 2001
Goa has taken yet another big step ahead
than the Election Commission of India, to prevent bogus voting,
at a small municipal election in the tiny state.
For the Ponda municipal elections slated
on 19 August, no voter will be allowed to exercise franchise
unless his or her photo identity is produced.
"It will be a standing test, law, justice
and fair play", states Prabhakar Timble, the state election
commissioner. He considers it as a step towards purity of
elections and guarding sanctity of right to vote.
His experiment in February last year
of producing any kind of identity - with or without a photograph
- for the first ever zilla panchayat elections in the state
proved to be a real success.
Close on the heels of it, the CEC also experimented
it in Haryana Assembly elections. "The CEC gave us a boost
to take a step ahead and make photo identity compulsory",
states Timble.
The photo identity however is not only the
voter's identity card issued by the CEC, but even the I-card
issued to the employee by its employer - the state or central
government or registered private establishment, PAN card,
driving licence, student I-card and even a pass book, but
with a photograph.
"In fact we deleted things like ration cards
after getting a public feedback that non-photo-identities
cannot provide for a full-proof system", states Raghuvir Sanvordekar,
the SEC secretary.
According to him, neither a single politician
nor any voter has objected to the system of producing identity
document at the polling booth. On the contrary, the demand
has been to make it more authentic as people have pointed
out that bogus ration cards are prepared only for election
purpose.
But in order not to deny right to vote to
any voter, the CEC has co-operated with SEC and has organised
a special instant photo identity card session in Ponda alone
for a fortnight, extending it further by seven days, till
5 August.
Though a small election comprising hardly
11,750 voters spread out in 10 wards, the experiment of Ponda
could be analysed by all, making the whole election process
more transparent and authentic, to cleanse up the polling
system in India.
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