EC to trace missing voters in AP, Telangana

Despite taking up booth-level and door-to-door verification of voters several times, a shocking number of 1.50 crore voters are still missing in the Aadhaar-Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) linkage in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Following this, the Election Commission will now verify the voters’ lists again to trace these missing voters. The EPIC cards are expected to be cancelled if there is no response to the SMS sent by EC. 40 lakh missing voters have been accounted in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts alone. Officials inform that several voters have EPICs in other districts or native places along with Hyderabad where they are currently studying or working. Hence these voters will be considered for their current residence to weed out duplication.

Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal stated that the process of EPIC-Aadhaar linkage is being carried out with 63 percent linkage being completed in Telangana and 73 percent in AP. He added that repeated rounds of physical verifications are taking place before cancelling the missing voters and the 100 percent linkage will be completed by August 15.

The voters can apply for fresh EPIC cards online if their name is deleted without any reason, however, they should ensure that they don't possess a voter card of any other location, said Mr Lal.