Delhi Govt to start despatching photo ID cards to people from Oct

New Delhi, Sep 12 (UNI) The Delhi Government today said it would start from October 1 the despatch of the Photo Electoral cards that are being prepared by the state government for the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state.

Replying to a question during Question Hour on the last day of the Monsoon session, the last before the elections to the Legislative Assembly, Delhi Industries Minister Mangat Ram Singhal said a lot of discrepancies had been found in the draft photo electoral rolls that had been published by the State Election Commission on August 11.

''However, all the discrepancies are being rectified under the supervision of the Election Commission. In the final Photo Electoral Rolls(PER), to be published by September 25, more than 80 per cent of the residents of Delhi will have their photos on the electoral rolls,''Mr Singhal said.

He said the task of ensuring that 100 per cent people in the city had their names on the rolls, was impeded by the fact that some voters were not interested in giving their photos for the purpose.

Earlier, members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, cutting across party lines, expressed concern over the various discrepancies in the preparation of the PERs.

Raising the issue, Mr Puran Chand Yogi of the BJP said more than 60 per cent of people in his constituency did not have their names in the list of PERs prepared by the State Election Commission.

Many members also voiced their concern over the fact that several residents of the Jhuggi Jhopri clusters, who had been shifted from their original habitat to other areas, did not have their names on the list of PERs in the absence of residence proofs of their new residence.

Expressing concern over the matter, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said,''in the current scenario, movement of people from one place to another within Delhi will be very fast. In this context, we will have to ensure that all these people get their Photo ID Card in keeping with their basic entitlement to have their right to vote.

Speaker Prem Singh said,''all the residents of Delhi should have the right to vote. Therefore, their Photo ID Cards should be made.'' The Chief Minister said, she along with Industries Minister Mangat Ram Singhal, the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Jagdish Mukhi and Delhi BJP Chief Harshvardhan would meet the Chief Election Commissioner to raise the issue of Photo ID cards for these migrants and other discrepancies in the electoral rolls.

UNI AR RSA PM1717