1.5m temporary NICs for Presidential Election

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Gramaseva Niladharis countrywide will commence the distribution of over 1.5 million temporary National Identity Cards from next week to those who are eligible to vote at the Presidential Election to be held on January 26. It is said that all Grama Niladharis will be provided with adequate forms to be distributed among persons needing NICs within the next few days.

Voters who had entered their names in the 2008 electoral list will be eligible to cast their votes at the forthcoming election. According to statistics of the Department for Registration of Persons (DRP) the number of citizens without NICs in the country could be between 1.5 and 1.8 million. DRP Commissioner A.G. Dharmadasa told the Sunday Observer that in addition to many people in the plantation sector, a large number of people in the Northern and Eastern provinces too do not have NICs.

The majority of people in these two regions lost their NICs during the three-decade war, he said.

He said when almost all Internally Displaced Persons have returned to their homes from the welfare villages, the DRP will initiate a massive NIC distribution program within the next few months.

“However, people in these two provinces, who do not have NICs, will be given temporary NICs through their respective Gramaseva Niladharis under a special program, according to the announcement made by the Elections Commissioner last week.”

Commissioner Dharmadasa said no voters in the country will be deprived of their voting rights under any circumstances.

Meanwhile, a senior DRP official said the Department has also planned to distribute 150,000 permanent NICs before January 26.