EPIC centres to function from end of May: Naresh Gupta

Tiruchirapalli, Apr 29 (UNI) The Electronic Photo Identity Card (EPIC) centres set up in all the 234 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu will function from the end of May, Chief electoral officer Naresh Gupta said today.

Addressing a press conference here after inaugurating the training programme for the Electoral officers of the Tiruchirapalli, Karur, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts here, he said all the EPIC centres were equipped with computers, printers, scanners and digital cameras.

He said the EPIC centres will start issuing fresh EPIC and duplicate cards incorporated with the required corrections and change of address.

He said the applications for fresh EPI cards, wallet friendly cards and replacement of old incorrect cards with new ones will be issued within a month from the date of receipt of the applications.

Mrs Jaishree Muralidharan Joint Chief Electoral officer said the training programme was already launched at Chennai on April 24 for the Chennai and Northern District officials. It will be launched tomorrow at Madurai and on May 6 at Coimbatore for southern and western region officials, he said.

To a question, Mr Gupta said so far EPICs have been readied for 98.6 per cent of voters, of which 96 per cent were distributed already. Similary the preparation of photo voters list has also covered 98.6 per cent of voters in Tamil Nadu.

He said coverage of all the voters with EPIC as in Puducherry and Kerala was not possible in Tamil Nadu.

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