Handbook for Electoral Registration Officers - Election Commission ...

Chapter IX – Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC)1. Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) is an identity document issued by the ElectoralRegistration Officer under Rule 28 of R. E. Rules. The EPIC contains details of theelector like Name, Father’s/Mother’s/Husband’s Name, Date of Birth/Age on thequalifying date, Sex, Address and most importantly, the photograph of the elector.The format of EPIC can be seen at Annexure 9.1.2. EPIC is a permanent document for an elector. It is to be used by the elector toestablish one’s identity at the time of polls. It is compulsory for an elector who hasbeen issued an EPIC to produce the EPIC at the time of polling to enable voting.Form of EPIC3. The size of EPIC has been fixed by Election Commission and should be 5.0cmhorizontal x 8.4cm vertical. The photograph should be of size 2.4cmx1.8cm and ofresolution 320x240 pixel with 75% area covered by the full frontal scape of the faceof the elector in a light background. The Name, Father/Mother/Husband Name, Sexand Date of Birth/ Age on the qualifying date on the EPIC should be derived fromthe elector detail database. In the electoral roll, the date of birth does not appear,instead, only the age appears. But this age is derived from the date of birth that theelector has provided in Form 6, if known to the elector. Thus the date of birth shouldbe captured from the Form 6 for EPIC purposes. If the date is not available or notmentioned in the Form 6 and only age is mentioned, then the year of birth should becalculated from that age and only ‘year of birth’ should be mentioned in the EPIC inthe column ‘date of birth’.4. The EPIC has the photograph of the elector printed on it and a security hologrampasted half on the photograph and half on the vacant space on the left of thephotograph. The reverse side of the EPIC has the address of the elector and thefacsimile signature of the ERO issuing the EPIC.5. Since EPIC is a permanent document that is to be used to establish the identity of theelector, the Commission has prescribed the quality of the paper and the lamination.As per the Commission’s guidelines, the paper used for printing EPIC should not beless than 165 GSM. Where EPIC is produced by single side printing on paper andfolding, the paper used should not be less than 80 GSM. The polyester film used forlaminating the EPIC should be at least 125 micron thick.Functional Unique Serial Number (FUSN):6.1 Every EPIC is issued under a unique EPIC Number. EPIC Number is analphanumeric string with 3 alphabetical codes followed by a seven-digit number.While the first 3 alphabetical Codes, called the Functional Unique Serial Number(FUSN) code is unique for every Assembly Constituency and is provided by theElection Commission, the numeric code that follows the FUSN code is a six digitrunning serial number followed by one digit checksum making a total of sevendigits.72