HYDERABAD: On August 6, when the Secunderabad Cantonment goes to polls after nine years, the plain wits of its election staff will be pitted against the guile of bogus voters, courtesy the lack of a proper voter identification system.

The only official document, using which the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) will have to verify its voters, is its electoral rolls, which again are different from those used for Assembly elections. Though the SCB has decided to accept the Election Commission of India's (ECI) Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) along with ration cards and driving licences issued by the State Government, office identity cards and even college IDs and hall tickets, these will be mere make-do steps.

The SCB's electoral laws stipulate that only those on its electoral rolls, and not those on ECI rolls, can vote. "Even then, it is a known fact that just a name on the electoral roll is not enough for proper identification. EPICs, ration cards or licences are only temporary ways out, because several details on those won't tally with SCB's rolls," an SCB official points out.

Interestingly, SCB officials are confident of preventing any bogus voting, because they think they can identify a fake voter the moment he enters the voting booth! "Bogus voters can be made out easily, because they will be jittery when they enter the booth," is how one official describes the Board's `anti-bogus vote strategy'!

"As for those who do not have any sort of identity document, our officials will crosscheck them with a bombardment of questions on personal details. No bogus voter can get past them," he adds. With officials from various State and Central Government departments to be drawn to handle election duties, it remains to be seen how effective this strategy will be.

Incidentally, many of the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency's voters do not have EPICs. As per Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad statistics, 1,78,168 people are still to get them. Of these, it is not clear how many will actually be under SCB, because the Assembly constituency includes voters from Malkajgiri municipality and parts of Alwal and Kukatpally municipalities too.

A complication

Complicating matters, the SCB has no record of how many of its voters have EPICs or ration cards, thus leaving the entire identification exercise to the shrewdness of its election staff, and yes, slyness of the bogus tribe.

The SCB on Friday last advised people who are not less than 18 years of age on or before March 1, 2006, residing in the Cantonment area for six months before March 1, 2006 and whose names have not been included in the electoral roll to fill up relevant forms that are available from SCB office from June 17 to 20, from 10.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all working days. Existing voters should confirm whether their names are on the rolls.

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