82 pc voters to use photo I-cards for LS polls

New Delhi, Mar 6: For the first time, nearly 82 per cent electors will use the Photo identity cards for polling in forthcoming General Elections, 2009.

Out of 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, 522 constituencies and the legislative constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Orissa will go to the polls on the basis of the photo electoral rolls.

Nearly 77 percent eligible voters would have their photographs in the rolls. Over 90 percent electors have been issued voters cards with photographs in fourteen states and 90 percent electors have their photographs printed in the electoral rolls in thirteen states.

This will facilitate easy identification and prevent impersonation. The concept of photo electoral roll was introduced in 2005 when it was tested as a pilot project during the revision of rolls in all the constituencies of Kerala and Puducherry, two constituencies of Haryana and in one constituency each in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

On the successful completion of the pilot project, the subsequent elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Kerala and Puducherry in 2006, the 2007 elections of Himachal Pradesh and the 2008 legislative elections in Meghalaya, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Delhi were also conducted using Photo Electoral Rolls.

ANI