“EC will distribute voter ID cards as voters have been expecting it from the commission. National ID cards are not likely to be distributed immediately,” Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told Republica. He further said that there will be a sense of ownership among voters if they get separate voter ID cards from the commission.
According to EC officials, the constitutional body will take a decision on the process, production and distribution of voter ID cards on Friday. The commission has planned to distribute voter ID cards by November 15. [break]
EC on Thursday held discussion on the necessity of distributing voter ID cards for the upcoming CA election.
Uprety said EC had sent invitation cards to about 4.2 million households in the last CA polls. “It was possible to send invitation cards to households during the last CA polls as members of each household were listed in clusters but the names of voters will appear in an alphabetical order this time around. So, the commission has to address each voter individually” Uprety explained.
Asked about the format of voter ID cards, the chief election commissioner said that it will be similar to general ID cards with a plastic envelope. “The ID cards will have personal details of voters including name, date of birth and gender, among others, with photo on front side,” Uprety added.
According to EC officials, each paper, which will be used for voter ID cards, will be of 150gsm. “Each ID card will cost around Rs 6-7,” said Uprety.
EC has registered 12.3 million voters on the new electoral rolls with photo and biometrics by mid-July.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), which is entrusted with issuing biometric national ID card, will use information collected by EC during the ongoing voter registration. MoHA has formed a separate national ID management centre and invited a global tender for procurement of the national ID cards. The first phase of the US $117 million project is being undertaken under grant assistance worth US $8 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
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