The photo identity card featuring unrecognisable photograph of an electorate with smudge all over will soon be replaced by glitzy PVC card akin to PAN card.
“All fresh photo-identity cards will be issued in PVC sheet” said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jharkhand PK Jajoria. However, electorates will have to wait for few more months to get the tamper-proof card with color photograph embossed over it.
Significantly, office of the CEO Jharkhand has proceeded in the direction with expression of interest to implement Election Commission of India’s (ECI) initiative in the State. Interestingly, electorates holding older photo-identity card can also get their replaced by the new card by shelling out fee which will be decided by the commission in future. “Existing photo-identity card holders can get the new card by paying a fee that is yet to be decided,” added Jajoria.
As per the instruction issued by ECI, concerned authorities in each State need to empanel agencies in each district to issue the new card. However, considering a myriad of issues involved in roping as many agencies as the number of districts the CEO Jharkhand has requested the ECI to permit using one agency for the entire state.“We have conveyed issues we might face in the implementation of the ECI’s directive,” continued Jajoria. Incidentally, the astronomical costs in setting up a printing centre for printing new photo-identity card makes the proposition unviable for any agency and hence the ground for proposing one agency for one State.
The printers used for printing photo-identity card needs replacement in every three months. “Cost for setting up a printing centre is too high besides recurring expenses on machines one has to make to keep the process running,” said Jajoria. Meanwhile, the new card will measure 8.6 cm vertical and 5.4 cm horizontal in dimension and will be printed on a PVC sheet and will be laminated. Existing photo-identity cards are monochrome and use thin paper which is laminated and makes identification a tough job.