No Voter ID? Still you can vote!

It's the election time here in Tamilnadu. Each and every street is occupied by the contestants campaigning for their party. Coming Monday (16th May 2016) going to be the important day where we will be choosing our CM to rule us for the next 5 years. Election commission is doing a great job by spreading awareness about voting among the general public. Their aim is to achieve 100% voting this time. I hope, we will make it happen. 

First of all, thank you all for the response / enquiries for my post on "How to apply for Voters ID card online" in the form of comments and e-mail. I have tried my level best to reply to all your queries. Based on the queries I have received, I got to know that people are not casting their vote just because they don't have their Voters ID. This post is just to highlight the Election Commission's press release which states that, We can still vote if we don't have voters id in hand. In the absence of voters ID, we can still vote by showing any of the documents which are provided in the list below. Only condition is, your name should be there in the voters list. This post seeks to clarify the below doubts: 

1. How to find whether my name is there in the voters list or not and How to find my polling booth? 
2. What are the documents which can be showed in the absence of Voters ID card?
3. Will I be eligible to vote if I have voter ID card but belong to my old address?

Let's go one by one and I will try to explain in step wise approach along with the screenshots wherever possible, for easy understanding.

Scenario 1: How to find whether my name is there in the voters list or not and how to find my polling booth?

The basic criteria to vote is to have our name enrolled in the voter list. If its not there in the list, we can't vote. So, let's see how to find out whether our name is there in the voters list or not. 

Step-1: Click on the below link to go to the official "Tamilnadu Voters Service Portal" page.
http://electoralservicessearch.azurewebsites.net/searchbyname.aspx (or) Click here.

Step-2: On clicking the link, the page like the below screenshot will open. If you have the voter ID number with you, type it in EPIC number field. If you don't have or don't know the EPIC number, Click on "DON'T KNOW EPIC" button as shown in the below screenshot. 

Step-3: On clicking "DONT KNOW EPIC", the below window will open. Try to fill the details whatever you know. District name and Elector name is mandatory. But I would suggest to provide / fill the details whatever we know, that will make it easier to filter among thousands of data and then click SUBMIT.

Step-4: On clicking the SUBMIT button, we will get the list of names matching our fields which we entered above. Scroll through and find your name. Then click on "SELECT"

Step-5:  Then comes the last step where you will get the your voters ID details.If you know the EPIC number in the step-1, it will directly land you to this page. Scroll to find out the sub-head "POLLING STATION" which is nothing but your Polling Booth. They have also given the address of the polling booth for our easy identification. That's it. Carry any of the id proof which is listed in the next segment and vote!

Scenario - 2: What are the documents which can be showed in the absence of Voters ID card?

Once we are confirmed that our name is there in the voters list, the next thing is to search for the Voters ID card. If it is available, then well and good. We can vote by showing the voters ID at the booth. But the confusion arises when we don't have the voters ID card / if we have lost our voters ID card. Not to be worried, we can still vote by showing any of the below ID proofs at the polling booth. 

List of alternative documents that can be used for voting in the absence of Voters ID:

1. Passport
2. Driving License
3. Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central / State government PSUs / Public limited companies
4. Passbooks with photograph issued by bank / post office
5. PAN card
6. Smart card issued by RGI under NPR
7. MNREGA job card 
8. Health insurance smart card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour
9. Pension document with photograph
10. Authenticated photo voter slip issued by the election machinery
11. Official identity cards to MPs / MLAs / MLCs.

NOTE: Overseas electors should produce their original passport only.

Kindly note that AADHAR CARD is NOT accepted
as the ID proof to cast vote.

The above 11 documents have been prescribed in the official circular issued by the Election Commission of India which can be retrieved in the below link:
http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/current/ImpInsTN_06052016.pdf​

Scenario 3 - Will I be eligible to vote if I have voter ID card but belong to my old address?

Election commission has confirmed in their official press release that if any voter produces an Voters ID issued by the Electoral Registration Officer of another Assembly constituency, such a card would also be accepted for identification for casting vote in the polling station where the name of that elector finds place. For Eg., If Mr.X has his old residence at Mylapore and moved to Anna Nagar. He has applied for address change but haven't received his card. If his name is found in the list of Anna Nagar polling station, Mr.X can produce the voters ID of Mylapore address as a proof of his identity.

So what are you waiting for! Just go to the polling booth and cast your vote on 16th May 2016. I hope this post helped you by clarifying doubts which few of you might have come across. Share this if you feel its will be of help to your near and dears, enlighten the voters. Exercise your right to vote! 

Feel free to write to me for any clarifications. 

Cheers,
Deepak Raghuraman
innovativedeepak87@gmail.com