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Election Commission's pat for Pondy

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI June 24. The Union Territory of Pondicherry has earned the unique distinction of giving photo identity cards (PICs) to 99.46 per cent of the voters, even as the country's average is only 65 per cent.

The Chief Election Commission today honoured the Chief Electoral Officer, B. Vijayan, the Joint CEO, Yasam Lakshmi Narayana Reddy, and eight Electoral Registration Officers of Pondicherry for this achievement this month. The electoral rolls are by and large free from errors and omissions.

The CEC, J.M. Lyngdoh, and the two Commissioners, T.S. Krishnamurthy and B.B. Tandon, distributed mementos to these officers and urged them to ensure that the remaining voters were also issued PICs.

Mr. Vijayan told the Commission that 100 per cent coverage had been achieved in the three Assembly constituencies of Ariyankuppam, Bussy and Villianour and efforts were on to complete the task in other constituencies at the earliest.

As on January 1, the number of voters on the electoral roll of Pondicherry stood at 6,14,823 and those in possession of the PICs was 6,11,479. Those who remained to be covered was only 3,344. They were not in a position to appear before the enquiry officer either due to their pre-occupation or because they were not interested in obtaining the ID cards.

Mr. Krishnamurthy said if Pondicherry could do it, other States also could. He suggested that each district could be taken as a unit and 100 per cent coverage achieved in each of the districts. He said the endeavour of the Commission ultimately was to reduce the number of alternative documents in lieu of PICs for voting in the elections.

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