Voter ID not mandatory, produce any photo ID as proof, says EC

Rohini S (19) was eager to receive her voter ID, which she dearly wanted to have with her while exercising her franchise in Saturday’s elections.

But when her father K S Subramanyan visited the BBMP office to check on the status of her ID card, he was told that the card will not be given on Friday. “Despite submitting all the relevant documents, we were not issued the card. I thought it could be because of the RR Nagar fake voter ID incident,” he said.

Sarah had come from Mangaluru to Bengaluru to exercise her democratic duty for the first time. Her father Philip had to run around to get her the card. “We should’ve received the card long ago,” Philip said. “The officials kept delaying the dispatch. When I visited the BBMP office, the voter IDs were made and kept there. We just took the piece of paper and laminated them.”

Many first-timers felt bitterly disappointed when the Election Commission staff had failed to dispatch their cards home. They were also doubtful as to whether they could still cast their votes.

However, senior consultant at the Chief Election Office D N Nayak clarified that voter ID is not compulsory. “If the voter finds their name on the electoral rolls, they can produce any photo ID proof,” he said.

Nayak also denied that there was any link between the RR Nagar incident and the delay. “The BBMP staff should have completed the process by issuing both the voter IDs and the slips with the voter’s details,” he said.