(The Election Commission of India(ECI) has decided to courier coloured Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) to newly enrolled voters via post, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The service was launched on January 25 celebrated as National Voters’ Day.

“We will start sending the voter cards directly to recipients by post. The service will be officially launched on National Voters’ Day,” he said.

Later speaking at a programme held at National Library on 'National Voters’ Day', state CEO Ariz Aftab said on Tuesday that the ECI has entered into a pact with the postal department to courier the voter cards.

Apart from the voter card, the enclosed envelope will also contain a letter from the district magistrate, oath for a new voter and guidelines, Aftab said.

“The National Voters’ Day will be observed across the country as an initiative of the Election Commission to raise the awareness of the voters. The theme of this year’s Voters’ Day is ‘Empowering, Vigilant, Protecting and Informing Our Voters’,” he said.

Award for district magistrates

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI), awarded Nadia district magistrate Shashank Shetty, Jalpaiguri DM Moumita Godara Basu and Bankura district magistrate K Radhika Aiyar for their roles in conducting last year's Assembly elections in Bengal.

The trio were awarded by state chief secretary HK Dwivedi at a ceremony held at National Library to celebrate National Voters’ Day.

DM of North 24 Parganas Sumit Gupta and DM, Howrah district Mukta Arya along with SP Birbhum district Nagendra Tripathi and SP Baruipur South 24 Parganas Kamasish Sen were awarded by the ECI in another programme in New Delhi for their respective roles in conducting the assembly elections held in the state last year, the CEO said.

Leaders of various political parties were also present at the programme.