Two million sans IDs

There are two million voters in the 2008 electoral register who do not possess National Identity Cards.

The Government is taking steps to issue them with temporary identity cards to enable them to vote at the forthcoming Presidential Election, the Internal Administration Ministry said in a press release yesterday.

All those voters registered in the electoral register 2008 who do not have valid identity cards recognized by the Commissioner of Elections are eligible to be issued with temporary identity cards.

The Department of Registration has taken steps to issue temporary identity cards for the 2010 Presidential Election to such voters free of charge, the Ministry release said.

The requisite forms to make applications for the temporary ID could be obtained from Grama Niladharis and all District Secretaries to be distributed among the Divisional Secretaries.

The first batch of applications was dispatched to the Northern Province for distribution among Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Mannar and Vavuniya, it said.