No PIC no vote in Chhattisgarh Assembly poll

            Raipur, August 23, 2008: The voters of Chhattisgarh would not be allowed to cast their vote, in the 2008 Assembly election, if they do not have the Photo Identity Card (PIC), an Election Commission official said today.

            It will really be difficult for any one to cast his vote in the coming Assembly election without any Photo Identity Card, Chief Electoral Officer of Chhattisgarh Dr Alok Shukla told the ChhattisgarhTopNews here.

            Since it would be difficult for the electors to vote without any PIC, a massive campaign was going on in the state to complete the process, he said.

            The state has completed over 60 per cent work of the photo identity card and to make that cent per cent works are in full swing, for which the commission had adopted several measures, Dr Shukla said.

            To make the process of preparing PIC easier, the Commission had also decided to take photograph of the voters for making the PIC and the Photo Electoral Rolls.

            In many places and especially in urban pockets, the voters can not wait for a longer period in any booth for having photographed due to their works. Hence the Commission had also decided to accept passport size photographs against their names, the ECO said.

            The photograph would be scanned and pasted in the photo electoral rolls also after receiving that by the Commission officials, he said.

            Chhattisgarh would likely to go for Assembly poll in the month of November to elect its third government and to ensure that process of election smoothly both Dr Shukla and Gaurav Dwivedi have been relieved of all other charges and made exclusively the CEO and the Joint CEO respectively.