Newly Enrolled Voters in Andhra Pradesh to Receive EPICs by February 15

The Chief Electoral Office in the state is calling for tenders shortly to order printing of the new EPICs, so that they can be delivered at the doorsteps of the voters by speed post. Unlike the old cards, which are in black and white, with the photo and information of the voter printed in vertical format, the new EPICs will be colour PVC cards with the photo and relevant information of the voter printed in horizontal format, similar to debit or credit cards issued by banks.

At present, no hard copies of voter IDs are being issued. Only soft copies can be downloaded from the ECI website. They are being referred to as e-EPICs.
However, it is not mandatory to present hard copies of EPIC at the time of casting the vote at a polling station, as polling officers will allow e-EPIC and other IDs, including Aadhaar, driving licence, passport and so on.

But those in the age group of 18–19 years, who are going to exercise their franchise for the first time, are anxious about hard copies of EPICs to showcase them. That they have a share in getting a party to power in a democratic process.

A first-time voter pursuing B.Tech in a private engineering college said, “I am eagerly looking forward to casting my vote for the first time in the upcoming polls. Though I got a soft copy of my EPIC, I feel like having a hard copy of my EPIC. I can show it off to all my friends and kin claiming that I have become a voter and have cast my vote in a free and fair manner.”

As per the Special Summary Revision (SSR) of Electoral Rolls, there are 4.08 crore voters in AP as on January 22. Of them, over 22 lakh are newly registered voters.
A senior official from the CEO’s office said, “More number of voters have enrolled in the SSR. The existing agency is unable to cope up with the increased demand for printing the EPICs. We are going for a new agency to print the cards and issue them soon.”