Recently, in response to an RTI enquiry, ECI said that just Over 67 lakh voters (less than 1% of voters) have downloaded a digital voter ID, known as the electronic Electoral Photo ID Card (e-EPIC), from the time the document was made available until December 23, 2022.

The e-EPIC is one of the few commonly recognised identity documents that can be downloaded as a legitimate PDF file, along with e-PAN and e-Aadhaar.
According to the ECI’s RTI response, 6.8% of the 9.8 crore voters who are currently entitled to download an E-EPIC as a PDF document have actually done so, which is less than 1% of all Indian voters registered to vote.

What is E-EPIC:

• e-EPIC is a portable document format(PDF) version of the EPIC which can be downloaded on mobile or in a self-printable form on the computer.
• A voter can thus store the card on his/her mobile, upload it on Digi locker or print it and self-laminate it.
• It can be used as a valid proof of age and address to avail various government services and schemes. It is equally valid as a proof of document for voter participation.
• In the first phase, new electors who were registered during the Special Summary Revision 2021 and had a unique mobile number in the e-roll were eligible for the e-EPIC. In the second phase, all eligible voters who have a valid EPIC number were made eligible for the e-EPIC.