Man from Murshidabad in West Bengal receives a voter ID card with picture of a dog

KOLKATA: Sunil Karmakar of Ramnagar village in Murshidabad was in for a shock when he went to collect his voter ID. He was issued a voter ID card with a picture of a dog.

"Yesterday I was called at Dulal Smriti School and this voter ID card was given to me. I saw the photo. The officer there signed and gave it to me but he didn't see the photo. This is playing with my dignity. I will go to the BDO office and request that this should not happen again," he told media.

Rajarshi Chakraborty, BDO said that the error will be corrected very soon.

"It's not his final voter ID card. If there is a mistake, it'll be corrected. As far as the dog's photo is concerned, it might have been done by someone while filling online application. The photo has already been corrected. He'll get the final ID card with the correct photo," he said.

For a fact, Union Law Ministry has been working on a Cabinet note to prepare a new law after considering the Election Commission’s proposal to give it statutory backing to collect the Aadhaar numbers of new applicants and existing voters to check multiple entries in the electoral rolls.

The Ministry, sources said, is working to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and is expected to submit the changes before the Cabinet committee, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for its consideration so that a Bill in this regard could be introduced before the Parliament.

The amendments to the Representation of the People Act will require citizens to link their Electoral Photo ID Card (EPIC) with the 12-digit Aadhaar, while ensuring privacy protection. “The Ministry is busy in preparing a Cabinet note considering Election Commission’s proposal to tweak the electoral law,” an official, requesting anonymity told IANS.

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