Delhi, 28 july: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday announced that the youngsters above the age of 17 years need not wait till the pre-requisite criterion of attaining age of 18 years to apply for their voter card — they can now apply in advance. The Commission unveiled the new model today saying the youth of the country will now get four opportunities every year to join the voters list.

ECI led by Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Shri Anup Chandra Pandey directed officials of all states “to work out tech-enabled solutions such that the youth” who have attained the age of 17 years are facilitated to file their advance applications to get the voter card as they turn 18.

ECI has released three additional qualifying dates — April 1, July 1 and October 1 — apart from January 1. The electoral roll will now be updated every three months and eligible youngsters can register in the qualifying quarter in which they turn 18 years old.

The applicants will receive an electoral photo identity card (EPIC) following the preliminary procedures.

The Commission has also made the registration forms more user friendly and simpler which will come into force on 1st August, 2022.

The new registration method for voter card will also open for the current round of yearly revision of the electoral roll 2023. However, the new forms for advance application will be available only from August 1.

For all those who are above the age of 18 years and are applying for their voter IDs, here’s how to do it:

• Download Voter Helpline App offered by the Election Commission of India from Playstore/iOS.
• On the display page, click on easily visible ‘voter registration’ and select the second option from the list which says ‘New Voter Registration (Form 6).

All you need to know about Form 6

1. Once you select the new registration option, you will be asked to communicate with Voter Mitra – a personal digital assistant, who will guide you through the process.

2. Next, register your mobile number. Once done, click on ‘Yes, applying for the first time.’

3. Fill out necessary information like state, assembly constituency, date of birth, and a relevant birth proof document to proceed.

4. At the bottom of the page, you will need to download an attached ‘age declaration form’ .

5. Upload a picture of yourself, stating your gender, name and other personal particulars.

6. Then you’ll be asked to enter the details of an immediate family member residing with you.

7. On the next step, add your address and village, post office, pin code details, stating your district, constituency and attach an address proof to complete the step.

8. Finally, approve the declaration in the final step and submit.

The Enforcement Directorate, which raided another house of arrested West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee’s close aide Arpita Mukherjee on Wednesday, has so far recovered Rs 27 crore 90 lakh in cash along with gold jewellery and bars worth Rs 4.31 crore, according to Zee sources. The ED has also seized unverified land papers in large numbers. 

The second recovery came as the ED conducted fresh raids in three locations in and around Kolkata in its probe in the school jobs scam. 

The huge cash of cash and gold was found five days after the agency seized more than Rs 21 crore in cash, besides jewellery and foreign exchange from another flat of Mukherjee, who was also arrested on July 23.  

The Indian Express quoted sources saying that the amount recovered from Club Town Heights, an apartment complex in the Belgharia locality, could be more as the counting was underway till last night. The ED officials had to break into two flats linked to Mukherjee in Belgharia as the keys could not be found. 

This came amid report claiming that Mukherjee told Enforcement Direcotrate that the arrested minister used her house to stash money and used it as a “mini bank”. She purportedly also admitted that the money came from kickbacks received for school job transfers and for helping colleges get recognition. 

The ED has claimed that during its raids on premises linked to the minister and his aides, it found a list of 48 candidates will roll numbers for posts of primary teacher, documents related to the appointment of Group D staff, including admit cards for recruitment tests, along with a of candidates on the letterhead of a former TMC MLA. 

Asked about the questioning of the minister and Mukherjee, the official said that though she has been “cooperative throughout”, Chatterjee is not.

The ED also questioned TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya at its office in CGO Complex in Salt Lake area. His residential premise was searched by ED officials on July 22, after which he was asked to depose.

Meanwhile, the calls for dismissal of Chatterjee from the state cabinet grew louder as Leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari met Governor La Ganesan at the Raj Bhavan here, seeking that Chatterjee, who holds the industry, commerce and parliamentary affairs portfolios, be removed as minister.

Fuelling speculations about Chatterjee’s future as a cabinet minister, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said it has to be seen how the senior TMC leader sheds the tag of being “influential” without quitting as a minister of several departments.

New Delhi, Jul 28: India added 20,557 new coronavirus infections pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,39,59,321, while the active cases increased to 1,46,323, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
The death toll climbed to 5,26,211 with 44 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.33 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.47 per cent, the ministry said.
An increase of 1,297 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
According to the ministry, 203.21 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year. (Agencies)