Digital Voter ID

Jan. 10, 2023

Recently, in response to an RTI enquiry, ECI said that just Over 67 lakh voters (less than 1% of voters) have downloaded a digital voter ID, known as the electronic Electoral Photo ID Card (e-EPIC), from the time the document was made available until December 23, 2022.

About:

Along with e-PAN and e-Aadhaar, the e-EPIC is one of the few generally accepted identity documents that can be downloaded as a legally valid PDF file.
About 9.8 crore voters are currently eligible to download an E-EPIC, the ECI said in its RTI response, that is, 6.8% of voters who are eligible to download an e-EPIC as a PDF document have done so — this is equivalent to less than 1% of all registered voters in India.

What is E-EPIC:

e-EPIC is a portable document format(PDF) version of the EPIC which can be downloaded on mobile or in a self-printable form on the computer.
A voter can thus store the card on his/her mobile, upload it on Digi locker or print it and self-laminate it.
It can be used as a valid proof of age and address to avail various government services and schemes. It is equally valid as a proof of document for voter participation.
In the first phase, new electors who were registered during the Special Summary Revision 2021 and had a unique mobile number in the e-roll were eligible for the e-EPIC. In the second phase, all eligible voters who have a valid EPIC number were made eligible for the e-EPIC.

Source : Less than 1% of voters downloaded e-EPIC, two years after the digital voter ID was announced