Catherine Jose, a resident of Bikarnakatte, found out on Thursday that the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) that she holds does not ensure that she can vote. What is more she was asked to declare through affidavit that she does not have an EPIC.
She found that her name has been deleted as she was abroad for two years. She got to know about the deletion after checking the electoral roll provided on the Election Commission website using the system at the office of an MLA in Kadri Mallikatta. Citizens have time till Sunday to apply for inclusion of their names in the voter’s list.
Ms. Jose went with Form No.6 to the Election Office on the second floor of the Mangalore City Corporation building. While looking at Ms. Jose’s form, the personnel at the Election Office asked her not to give any details of the Electoral Photo Identity Card she was holding as the same was not in the electoral roll. “You can use it for identity purpose but not for voting. You submit Form No.6 with an affidavit that you are not holding a card so far,” a woman handling her application said. Ms. Jose then proceeded to get the affidavit.
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Among those who visited the Election office included 65-year-old Kadri resident Stanislus, who had brought Form No.6 as he had been told that his name had been deleted. “But I have been voting for the last 10 years. I had even voted in the assembly elections held last year,” Mr. Stanislus told the personnel, who asked him to check the electoral roll available at the Mangalore City Corporation office off M.G. Road before submitting Form 6. Mr. Stanislus got down at the office and checked election commission’s website, it was there. He said, “I will vote this time, too.”