Once you attain 18 years of age, you are entitled to get your election card. An election card is your direct entry into the polling booth. It is your way to speak, to show and to be the change. It is issued by the election commission of India.

It works as an identity proof to avoid malpractices such as bogus voting, rigging and cross voting.

How Does Election Commission Help To Issue An Election Card?

The election commission of India issues an election card only after verifying all the details of a person. It looks into all the precautionary measures because many a times people manipulate by casting more than one vote.

The election commission has made the process of getting the election card very simple. A person has to visit the website of his required state commission and fill in the necessary forms.

Suppose if you’re a resident of Andhra Pradesh and if you wish to apply for an Election Card Andhra Pradesh, you will have to visit the website ceoandhra.nic and then you can either fill the form online or find out about the Mee-Seva Kendras and submit your form.

You have the option of filling different forms for different reasons:

1) Form 6 for enrolling for the first time as a voter

2) Form 7 if Object your Inclusion of name in the voter’s list

3) Form 8 if there are any mistakes which have to be verified in your election card

4) And Form 8A to Transpose Your card

You can also apply for the Election Card by submitting the documents and the form at the local Chief Election Officer.

What Does Checking The Status Of Your Election Card Means?

Many a times after filling the required forms and submitting them we easily get our Voter ID Cards but some people face problems or delay in receiving their voter id card, at that moment it becomes necessary to check the status of their card.

Checking the status means finding out at which level your voter id card has reached. Has it been left for delivery? Was there a mistake in the submission of your form? Or if you did not submit the proper documents?

The status check is the answer to all your questions.

When Is The Correct Time To Check The Status Of Your Election Card?

Applying for voter card is not that time consuming as you just need to go online, login, and fill in the required form. Generally, it takes about 9 months to get voter’s ID card if you go through the traditional process of going to the booth level officer or local election commission office.

You should wait at least a month if you have applied for your voter card online. If however, you don’t get any response within 2-to-3 months you should log in to the CEO website to know at which stage your application is stuck. A quick check on the web can help voters to know the status of their application.

How To Check The Status Of My Election Card Online?

Your voter id card is not just important on the Election Day. An election ends but the job of a voter and his/her voter card does not end. One has to constantly follow news, opinions, event and data to make sure that the elected representative or the government is living up to the expectations. If not, the voter has to look for the alternatives that he/she could choose whenever an opportunity to vote appears again. Therefore the whole democracy works in this dynamic way. Things keep on changing and there is always an opportunity to catch up and make up for the mistakes in choosing candidates that were made by the voters. The one thing remains constant is the election card in your hand. To find out the status of your election card, you need to follow the steps:

• Log into your state CEO’s website.
• When submitting the form, you had received a unique user name, password. You must login with that login name to enter the site to check the status of your election card.
• Click the link “EPIC Status” from the left navigation panel. The Know Your Application Status page is displayed.
• Specify the right form from the list.
• Specify the option you want to key in to conduct the search. It can be Application ID, house number, or your name.
• Specify the information in the text box based on the option you had specified before.
• Click the Submit button.

How can offline users check their name in the Voter List?

Some may argue that an internet connection has a great outreach and there might not be many people without it but nevertheless it is not surprising to hear that the mobile services have a much greater outreach than internet. Supported by this fact, people without an internet connection can check their name in the voter list just by sending a simple text message. The layout of the text message is as follows:-

Just SMS ‘EPIC’<SPACE>‘Voter ID Card No.’ and send it to 9211728082.

By this way you can save a trip to the Election Office if you want to check your name in the Voter’s List of your constituency.
The election commission although has to go a long way in order to make the Voter ID Card issuing process and related tasks easier for the people who have no internet connection, but this move, through which offline users can check their name in the Voter List through an SMS, would surely open a lot more avenues and enable many more electoral tasks to be conducted using mobile phones and hence make things easier for both online and offline citizens.

Is It Possible To Modify An Existing Voter Card Using Phone?

Yes, it is possible to change minor errors in the voter card by simply messaging the correct option to the election office using your mobile. You don’t have to fill in the forms entirely and submit the documents. This saves the hassle of doing the paperwork and submitting applications afresh.
Some tasks which you can do via mobile are:
• Changing photos
• Correcting typo errors
• Correct names in the election card
• Correct address

How is the Modification Done?

In case you want to send corrected name or address, you must SMS the following text –
CORR <space> ‘Assembly segment number’ <space> ‘Corrected name or address’.

Make sure this text reaches the 9211728082 number.

In case you want to inform about an error in a photograph, you must SMS the following text –
‘PHOTO’ <space> ‘Assembly segment number’ <space> ‘Corrected name or address’.

Make sure this text reaches the 9211728082 number.

What Happens After The SMS Is Sent?

The CEO and ERO will work on the SMS content and update your Voter ID Card. The electoral roll will also be summarily updated soon after the change is reflected in the identity card. You are saved from the hassle of depositing all the proof of documents and submitting the Form 8.

When To Use Form 8?

In case you have completely changed your address or your surname, you need to apply through Form8. In case a woman changes her surname and residential address, Form 8 needs to be furnished along with the copy of marriage certificate, age proof document, and address proof document. The copy of the voterID of her husband must also be filed along with it.

Visiting ERO – the Last Option

• Consider a situation where you have checked the status of your election card online and found that the status reads, “Distribution in progress.” However, even after waiting for 3 months, you don’t get your ID card. What will you do now? You must then visit the ERO located near your residence. The ERO may seek a written complaint about the status of your card to take further action.

• Many operations performed for elections are accomplished online today. To manage the voter lists of all assembly constituencies online is no small a task. Errors do crop in. However, majority of the people today are satisfied with the online interaction.
• You can easily check status of your voter card or electoral roll online. If you are still not getting your updated voter card or voter list, a visit to the ERO’s office is a must.