West Bengal: Man issued voter ID card with dog's photo

In an embarrassing incident, a resident of Murshidabad in West Bengal was issued a voter ID card with a dog's photo on it. 

The recipient, Sunil Karmakar, had applied at the Block Development Office (BDO) for a correction on his earlier voter ID card, and to his surprise, the new ID card had a dog's photo on it. 

Realising the error, an official at the BDO clarified that Karmakar will get another ID card, this time with the correct photo.

"As a human being, it is an insult to me that the Election Commission has given its stamp of approval on the voter ID card that identifies him as an animal," Karmakar said.

He also accused the BDO of signing the voter ID card without looking at the picture that was printed. He further said that he applied for a correction on his voter ID card (the birth date was wrong) in view of the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

"I had to stand in the scorching heat to get this done, but still a blunder was committed .....I hope that it doesn't happen to anyone else," Sunil said.

Accepting the ugly truth, BDO Rajarshi Chakraborty said, "We launched an investigation as soon as the news of the case was received. And in the month of January 2020, fresh applications were being submitted to fix the voter card online and offline and their new voter card will be given in the month of April and there will be no mistake in it."

"Sunil had filed the application in December and that is why there was a flaw in it. As soon as possible, Sunil will be given his voter card with the correct picture," the officer added.