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| Non-issuance of voter ID cards smack of scam | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar16: Even as the Municipal elections are drawing nearer, the authorities seem in no hurry to issue election identity cards to those voters who could not get the important document during the assembly and parliamentary elections held last year.
According to informed sources, the cards of thousands of voters have been withheld for `security reasons’. The sources said the election cards issued previously were used by anti-national and anti-social elements. All such cards, they said, were cancelled. The authorities at New Delhi urged the state government to issue fresh identity cards to the voters after proper scrutiny to prevent their misuse by unscrupulous elements. However, thousands of voters were left high and dry. Many among them were willing to go to the booths notwithstanding the boycott call by the separatists but could not exercise their franchise for want of identity cards.
The process of making and issuing the identity cards is almost fool proof. The field staff of the concerned department visit the area and meet the voters personally. The chances of unscrupulous elements laying hands on the important document, therefore, seem quite bleak.
Pertinent to mention, every voter is entitled to receive Rs 15 from the field staff who call on him to ascertain his residential proof and other vital details. The non-issuance of cards to thousands of people, sources believe, smacks of a scam.
A BLO (Block Level Officer) preferring anonymity said thousands of cards were gathering dust in the office of the returning officer at Srinagar. “The cards have not been issued for unknown reasons”, he said.
Nobody in the concerned department was available for comment.
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