The Election Commission has asked the people not to show the identity cards issued for the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections to vote in the second phase of local polls on Wednesday unless there is a decision to accept the old IDs.

The election body began distributing voter identity cards through 4,581 polling stations on Sunday. Voters can collect them from the polling centres by Tuesday. There are a total of 6,432,765 voters in 334 local units of provinces 1, 5 and 7 where polls are taking place on June 28.

For the May 14 polls, the EC had accepted the IDs issued in 2013. “Only the newly issued identity cards are valid unless the EC decides otherwise,” said EC Spokesperson Surya Prasad Sharma.

The commission has urged voters or a family member to reach the respective polling centre to collect the IDs and for information on the valid way of casting the ballot.

A high percentage of invalid votes in the first phase of local polls has worried 

election officials. On an average, 11 percent votes turned out to be invalid in the first phase. Lalitpur district topped the list with 17 percent void votes.

With an aim to minimise the error, the EC says it is working to make the voter education programme more effective. 

At least one volunteer has been assigned to each polling centre with sample ballot papers for making people aware of the proper ways of voting. 

There are a total of 8,364 polling centres in the three provinces. Real ballot papers are also on display.

During the first-phase vote, volunteers reached out to voters only with sample ballots where real election symbols are not presented.

The EC particularly focussed on high school students, many of them first time voters, for the message while volunteers were ordered to reach people’s doorsteps for the purpose.

Considering the tedious vote counting process in the first phase, the EC is in search of spacious counting centres where more teams can work at the same time.