EC to issue duplicate voter cards to those hit by Maharashtra floods

More than 6 lakh residents of 480 villages from the two districts lost their belonging including their documents in the floods.

The state branch of the Election Commission (EC) will undertake a special drive to issue duplicate voter identification cards for locals from the flood-affected areas of Sangli and Kolhapur districts, ahead of the Assembly elections, which are likely to be held in October.

Mumbai corporation workers cleaning the street after water level recede in Sangli. (Uday Deolekar/ Hindustan Times)

More than 6 lakh residents of 480 villages from the two districts lost their belonging including their documents in the floods.

“We have asked the collectors to assess the losses in the polling stations and of the voters while conducting panchnamas. The voters will be issued duplicate cards if they lost it in the floods. There would be no issue pertaining to the submission of the documents required for the voter cards as we have the details of the registered voters. For new voters, we have extended the online voter registrations till August 31,” said Dilip Shinde, additional chief electoral officer (CEO), Maharashtra.

EC is also assessing the condition of the polling stations affected by floods. “Hundreds of schools which were used as polling stations have been severely damaged in flooding. If the polling stations are not reconstructed by the elections, we will have to arrange for the temporary polling stations. The decision about it will be taken once the assessment of losses is completed,” said an official from the CEO office.

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