Voter Card Transfer vs Ration Card Transfer

Dear Mr. Pal,
I can share my recent experience on transfer of my name from previous constituency (Khardah AC) to the present constituency (Bidhannagar AC) where I reside now. For the purpose of inclusion of my name in the relevant Electoral Roll of Bidhannagar AC I submitted Form-6 to the ERO, Bidhannagar (new constituency) in the month of Nov.2011, furnishing the electricity bill (in my name) of my new flat as a proof of current residence along with other connected documents like copy of previous EPIC, copy of the relevant page of Electoral Roll of Khardah AC which shows my identity & EPIC no. etc. At the same time I submitted Form-7 to the ERO, Khardah AC for deletion of my name from that E/Roll. My wife also followed similar procedure to get her name transferred from Kalyani AC (her parental house) to Bidhannagar AC. She, of course, submitted a copy of my Electricity Bill as proof of current residence and a copy of marriage certificate along with the forms. We attended the hearing at both the ACs as per schedule. We received the new EPIC in the last week of January,2012.
As per the Commission’s guidelines (printed in the Form) any of the following documents can be accepted by ERO office as proof of current residence:
“8. Place of Ordinary Residence
Fill up the full and complete postal address including PIN code where you are ordinarily residing and want to get
registered, in the space provided.
Proof of ordinary residence to be attached are as under:
(i) Bank / Kisan / Post Office current Pass Book, or
(ii) Applicants Ration Card / Passport / Driving License / Income Tax Return filed or Assessment Order, or
(iii) Latest Water / Telephone / Electricity / Gas Connection Bill for that address, either in the name of
the applicant or that of his / her immediate relation like parents etc., or
(iv) Postal department’s posts received / delivered in the applicant’s name at the given address.
Note: In case of homeless persons the BLO will visit the address given in Form-6 at night to ascertain that the
homeless person actually sleeps at the place which is given as his address in From-6. If the BLO is able to verify that
the homeless person actually sleeps at that place, no documentary proof of place of residence shall be necessary. BLO
must visit for more than one night for such verification.”
In our case, they never asked us to produce new ration card.
So, I can’t understand why the ERO office insists only on the ration card as the proof of current residence!What about the validity of other documents!
You will be surprised to know that as per the recent instruction issued by the Maharashtra Govt., ration cards are not accepted as valid document of proof of residential address! In compliance with that instruction the Regional Passport Office, Mumbai is not considering the ration card as address proof for preparation of Passport in that state.