Voter ID Card: Relationship column rule changed for Assam to align with other states

A discrepancy in the format for voter cards in Assam has been corrected following a plea in the Gauhati High Court.

The difference in the slot for father's/name has been resolved in recent Electoral Photo Identity Cards, while it can be corrected in earlier issued voter cards by filling out a special form.

“We had filed a writ petition on the matter at the Gauhati High Court in 2016”, said Former MP Joyashree Goswami  Mahanta.

“While EPICs in all other states include a place for 'father's/name husband's below the voter's name,' in Assam, the slot was labelled as ‘relation name’. We wanted to follow the same rule as in other states”, she stated.

The petitioner claimed that the High Court had earlier directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to produce an affidavit in the matter, but they failed to do so.

When the case was heard again in this month, the ECI counsel informed the court that the points mentioned in the writ petition had been resolved.

The counsel placed on record Form 6 which collects all details of the electors before issuance of the EPICs, with a slot marked specifically for 'father's/ husband's name. 

Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi, in his order passed on Wednesday, said that the grievance expressed in the writ petition has been 'substantially redressed' by the ECI during the pendency of the petition and closed it. 

"We are happy that the issue has been addressed, but ECI could not give us any reply why this discrepancy crept in when we had approached them before moving the court,’’ Mahanta added.

“Possibility of some political conspiracy cannot be ruled out, though we don't want to speculate on the cause”, the former Asom Gana Parishad Rajya Sabha MP said.