EC asks for maximising EPIC coverage in Bengal elections

New Delhi, Mar 9 (UNI) The Election Commission today instructed the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal to put the task of maximising the election photo identity cards (EPIC) coverage at the top of agenda.

To achieve the task, the EC directed the CEO to increase mobile EPIC teams in each district and constituencies, depending on the number of residual voters who have not been issued the cards so far.

The EC observers who have completed their third visit to the state met the full commission and submitted their reports. After learning of slow progress in EPIC coverage in some districts, the EC decided to introduce a weekly monitoring system to track the progress of EPIC coverage.

The EC has announced that the onus of achieving maximum EPIC coverage will be on EROs/AEROs and services of booth level designated officers should be fully utilising in realising this goal.

The Commission has warned that DEOs should personally monitor and deliver the results. Non-performance on this count will be viewed seriously.

The EC asked the CEO to submit a status report on EPIC coverage and to indicate detail action plan for achieving the task.

The Commission has directed that a control room/help line at district level should be opened immediately with a dedicated telephone line to handle complaints related to electoral issues. It said complaint cells should be opened at sub-division level as well.

UNI SU VD VC1910