The Election Commission may not be able to ensure that all eligible voters in Kerala are armed with voter ID cards well before the polls on April 13.
The chief electoral officer (CEO), Mrs Nalini Netto, had earlier said that that all voters in Kerala would be given ID cards before the Assembly elections.
The additional CEO, Mr S. Jaleel, hinted that many eligible voters who have failed to submit applications in advance may not get voters ID cards before this election.
“We still receive and process applications for new ID cards,” he said. “But it will take at least one year more to achieve the target of issuing ID cards to all eligible voters in the state.”
He added that verification and processing of last minute applications would be a difficult task. Since the EC could not recruit enough booth level officers (BLOs) who are supposed to update the electoral roll and distribute ID cards to the voters, BLOs were not able to distribute ID cards that were ready. “We have deputed around 21,000 government officials as BLOs,” said Mr Jaleel. “Though EC recommends appointment of BLOs in their native places, the same could not be done for want of enough number of officials.”
“Since changes in house numbers were not taken into account when the electoral rolls were prepared, it is difficult to identify the applicants for new voter ID cards and distribute them,” said Mr G. Sreekumar . a junior superintendent, who also works as a BLO.
The EC is expected to announce the list of documents that can be used as proof of identity for those eligible voters to cast their votes.