Man became Woman on ID issued by Indian-EC

Gender is changed. Address is just two words and date of birth is XXXX…1942

The voter ID cards issued by the State Election Commission are full of errors leaving Bangaloreans like Umesh Gowda, 26, from ITI Colony near KR Puram, fuming . I was shocked when I saw my voter ID card. My name is Kondamma!” All this after a one-and-a-half-year effort.

Umesh Gowda’s address is mentioned as “#E-44, Bangalore”. Can this be the postal address of any person in Bangalore? And my date of birth is ‘xx-xx-1942.”

Interestingly, even the netas are worried about the blunders as it will be a vote lost for them. Nandish Reddy, MLA from KR Puram, said that hundreds of cards issued in his constituency have similar mistakes. “Can’t the operators see the photograph of the person before issuing the cards? The names and gender do not match with the photograph. Isn’t there any end to such mistakes,” he asked.

Most popular surname ‘Rao’ in South and Central Karnataka is spelt as Raw. And then there are errors in the address while transcribing the English spellings in Kannada.

“My daughter’s ID card is full of errors. The address is not correct either in Kannada or in English. Voter ID cards are supposed to be the authentic address proof. How can we use this now to apply for ration card or any other service we need in Bangalore,” asked Uma Rao from Girinagar, whose daughter’s EPIC card is erroneous.

Reissuing cards costs money

Every time there is a mistake in the ID card, the voter will have to re-apply for incorporating the changes. This means cost. The government spends crores of rupees on reissuing the cards.

According to a senior BBMP officer, the mistakes are made by the data operators temporarily hired by BBMP. The cards are no longer printed by a private agency, but done by BBMP officials. A printout of the voter’s details are taken, emblem pasted and the card will be ready. It will be put inside a transparent pouch given by the central electoral officer. The cards are not laminated like earlier. The government spends Re 1 per each voter ID card and Rs 4 is given to booth-level officer to dispatch the card.

Is that so, asks EC

Suranjana C, chief electoral officer, Karnataka, said: “About the alleged mistakes made in the voters’ ID cards, I will have to find out if it is true. I have called for a meeting with BBMP officials on Wednesday where it will be discussed. We have supplied pouches of good quality to BBMP. Earlier, private vendors used to handle the printing of the cards. But now, with the availability of technology in all administrative units like BBMP, we are not outsourcing the printing.”

Poor quality

The quality of cards hase become inferior too. The cards issued in June 2012 are just a piece of paper, half wrapped in thin layer of plastic. This, compared to the cards issued a year ago.

Source: timesofindia.com

Tags: Indian ID card, Man became Woman

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