New Delhi: Voter identity cards are all set to go digital as the Election Commission will launch the e-EPIC (Electronic Electoral Photo Identity Card) initiative tomorrow, National Voters Day. If reports are to be believed, the digital EPIC service will become available to voters across the country before assembly elections in five states– Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
The poll panel will launch the e-EPIC initiative in two phases. In the first phase (January 25-31), new voters who have applied for the voter-ID card and registered their mobile numbers in Form-6 will be able to download the e-EPIC by simply authenticating their mobile number.
The mobile numbers should be unique and not be previously registered in the ECI’s electoral rolls.
In the second phase that will begin from February 1, general voters can apply for e-EPIC. “All those who have given their mobile numbers (linked one) they can also download their e-EPIC,” a poll panel officer said.
What is e-EPIC?
e-EPIC is a non-editable secure portable document format (PDF) version of the EPIC and will have a secured QR code with image and demographics like serial number, part number, etc. E-EPIC can be downloaded on a mobile or a computer and can be digitally stored.
This is in addition to physical IDs being issued for fresh registration.