GUWAHATI, March 24 � Chief Election Commissioner HS Brahma today said that by July this year, all the voters of Assam would get photo identity cards.
Addressing the media here, Brahma said that already 95 per cent of the 1.9 crore voters in the State have photo ID cards.
Acknowledging one of the common allegations against the Election Commission regarding non-purified electoral rolls, he said that the exercise was on to update the electoral rolls in the State.
�Election in Assam is due before May, 2016. We start purifying the electoral roll one year ahead of the elections. Updating the electoral rolls is a continuous process,� he said.
Informing the media about the slew of reforms undertaken by the Election Commission, Brahma said the process of linking the Adhaar numbers with the electoral photo ID cards across the country other than the north-eastern states, would be completed by August 2015 to ensure zero duplication of voters.
�The process of linking the two cards is supposed to clear not less than six to eight per cent of duplication from the electoral rolls,� he said.
�A National Voters� Service Portal had been launched in January 2015, where all the details and documents of the voters can be found at one place. Here, it is not just that the voters can find their details, polling station particulars etc., they can also download and reprint the documents for other purposes. It can also be rectified online. It�s a first of its kind service in the world,� the CEC said.
Other than checking duplicity, linking of Adhaar numbers with the EPIC would keep a record of the voters migrating from one place to another and also find out the exact data of the new eligible voters.
Acknowledging the lack of uniform application of the model code of conduct in the elections across the country, Brahma said that though the agency was trying to ensure proper implementation of the model code of conduct, it was not equally strict in all the states.
On electoral reforms, the CEC said achieving total success on that front would not be possible without political reforms. �It is the political parties which fight elections, select and field candidates. Rather than legal, some level of ethical standard must be followed for maintaining the sanctity of the democratic process. Total electoral reforms also require political reforms,� he added.
