PATNA: Minta Devi, a resident of Bihar’s Siwan district, was thrilled to receive her Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) last month, allowing her to vote for the first time. However, her excitement turned to dismay when she noticed her voter ID listed her birth year as 1900—making her 125 years old—instead of the correct 1990 as per her Aadhaar card.
The discrepancy came to light after Opposition leaders, including Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, highlighted the case during protests against Bihar’s electoral roll revision. Some even wore T-shirts featuring Minta’s photo with the slogan “At 124 and not out.”
Minta, who had applied for the voter card online in April, blamed a “technical glitch” for the error. “I had applied for my voter card through the online system in April with all the required information,” she told this reporter over the phone on Tuesday.
She, however, hastened to add that it was not her fault that her EPIC card listed her wrong date of birth. “My date of birth has been mentioned ‘incorrectly’ in the voter card due to a technical glitch, but it should be rectified immediately,” she said, adding that only then would she be eligible to exercise her franchise for the first time.
Her husband Dhananjay Kumar Singh, an auto-rickshaw driver by profession, revealed that her wife had applied for a new voter card from her in-laws’ address at Arjanipur, Siswa Khurd village under Darauda Assembly constituency in Siwan district.
Minta’s name was earlier listed in the voter card at her parents’ house near Chhapra in Saran district, but she had never voted there. “She was very much excited after receiving the EPIC number at her in-laws’ address. But she became sad after she came to know about a technical error in her EPIC,” Dhananjay remarked. Minta is enjoying a good laugh over the goof-up.
However, the Siwan district administration has issued a statement, claiming that the would-be voter of the Daraunda Assembly segment has been contacted and remedial steps were taken well before the anomaly made headlines.
The Booth Level Officer (BLO) of polling booth number 94 contacted Minta and initiated a correction process. The district administration assured her that the error would be rectified soon. The BLO received the form for correction in her date of birth. “The error will be rectified within the stipulated time,” a press note issued by Sohail Ahmed, deputy election officer of Siwan, said.
According to a statement issued by the collectorate of Siwan, “An application was obtained from Minta Devi on August 10 for rectifying the error, to which her attention was drawn by the BLO. It will be dealt with during the claims and objections phase (of special intensive revision of electoral rolls)”.
Meanwhile, in Bhagalpur, another case surfaced where a woman, Asha Devi, a resident of Feku Tola village under Pirpaithy assembly constituency, was officially listed as 120 years old in her EPIC. Unlike Minta’s case, BLO (polling booth number 292), Farzana Khatoon, in her report, confirmed that Asha Devi’s age was correct in her EPIC, and she is 120 years old.
341 of 13,970 claims filed during SIR disposed of: ECI
The ECI on Tuesday said that the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer and his team of Electoral Registration Officers have disposed of 341 out of the 13,970 claims filed by voters for adding their names to the draft list and removing ineligible voters as part of the SIR in the state. Since the draft electoral rolls were published on August 1, not a single complaint has been filed by any political party in the past 12 days, the poll panel said.