Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Department of Post (DoP) and Chief

Electoral Officer of ______________(State/UT)

1. This Memorandum of Understanding has been entered into on _____/______, 2021

between Department of Posts (DoP) represented through Chief Post Master General
of Circle, (hereinafter referred to as “DoP”) and the Chief Electoral Officer of
_________________State/UT (hereinafter referred to as “CEO”).

2. Whereas the Chief Post Master General (CPMG) of Postal Circle, Department of
Posts under the Ministry of Communications, Government of India and the Chief
Electoral Officer of State/UT, intend to enter into MoU for delivery of Elector Photo
Identity Cards (EPICs) and various Notices through Speed Post services of DoP on
mutually agreed upon terms.

3. And both the parties, therefore, have agreed to on the following terms & conditions:

Article I: DURATION OF AGREMENT

i. The MoU shall be valid for five years with effect from ____/_____, 2021. The validity
of the MoU shall be extendable subject to the terms and conditions to be mutually
agreed upon by both the parties at the time of each extension.

Article II: MoU OPERATING OFFICERS

ii. Both CPMG and the CEO shall designate an officer of appropriate level as Single
Point of Contact (SPoC) for day-to day co-ordination at the State and District
Headquarter level.

iii. Standard Operating Procedures agreed upon by Department of Posts in consultation

with Election Commission of India shall be implemented both by CPMG and CEO for
booking and delivery of the EPICs and Notices through Speed Post.

Article III: SCOPE OF AGREEMENT

iv. DoP shall provide facilities available under the Speed Post service including booking,
transmission and door delivery of all Speed Post articles containing EPICs and
Notices.

v. DoP shall enable Application Programming Interface (API) with the CEO system(s)
for Track & Trace and delivery status update of the articles.

vi. DoP shall extend credit facility under Book Now Pay Later (BNPL) scheme to CEO
for booking and delivery of EPICs and Notices through Speed Post. The Speed Post
charges will be settled by CEO as per instructions and guidelines on BNPL facility
issued by DoP from time to time.

vii. CEO shall provide PIN Code wise sorted bundles of envelopes containing EPICs and
Notices deliverable in the respective district only along with soft copy of booking data
as per prescribed format at the identified Post Offices at each District HQ.

Page 1 of 2
Article IV: RATES

viii. DoP shall charge a flat rate of Rs.25/- (Rs. Twenty five only) per article (weight up to
50 grams) for delivery of EPICs and Notices through Speed Post deliverable within a
revenue district. No volume discount will be applicable on the flat rate.

ix. The mutually agreed flat rate will be reviewed after one year from the date of signing
of the MoU or revision of current Speed Post rates, whichever is earlier.

Article V: LIABILITY OF DEPARTMENT OF POSTS FOR DELAY IN DELAY IN

DELIVERY / LOSS / DAMAGE TO ARTICLES IN TRANSIT

x. In case of delay in delivery/loss of the article of consignments, compensation may be

claimed by the CEO as per the existing guidelines available in the Gazette
Notification. Compensation for loss or damage to contents of Speed Post Articles will
be regulated in terms of Govt. of India Notification No GSR 738(E) dated 18th
November, 2013. Compensation for delay/loss of the consignments will be claimed
at booking Office by the customer. The booking office will issue the compensation for
delay/loss of the consignments subject to the verification of the same.

Article VI: ARBITRATION

xi. In the event of any dispute or difference between the parties hereto, such dispute or
difference shall be resolved amicably by mutual consultation or through the good
offices or empowered agencies of the Government. If such resolution is not possible,
then, the unresolved dispute or difference shall be referred to arbitration of an
Arbitrator to be nominated by Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs (“Law
Secretary”). The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (No. 26 of 1996) shall not be
applicable to the arbitration under this clause. The award of the Arbitrator shall be
binding upon parties to the dispute.

Article VII: TERMINATION OF MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

xii. In case of either party deciding to terminate this MoU, notice of three months in writing
must be given to the other party.

Department of Posts, Chief Electoral Officer

Circle/Region/Division State/UT_______________________
Address Address _______________________
Email id Email ID ________________________

Page 2 of 2
 DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

Delivery of Elector Photo Identity Cards and Notices

issued by Chief Election Officer of States
through Speed Post

Standard Operating Procedure

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 0

1. Introduction

1.1 Election Commission of India (ECI) issues Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) to
the electors through Chief Election Officers (CEOs) of respective States. In addition,
CEOs also issues Notices to the electors to confirm the details furnished at the time
of registration/addition/deletion/up-dation of voter detail by the electors.

1.2 At present, only a few CEOs are booking EPICs and Notices through Speed Post.
Election Commission of India has now decided that all the EPICs and Notices issued
by CEOs in the country will be delivered through Speed Post.

1.3 ECI has directed CEOs of all the States to enter into an MoU as per format agreed
between DoP and ECI, with the respective Chief Postmaster General/Postmaster
General for booking of EPICs and Notices through Speed Post.

1.4 Considering the volume of EPICs and Notices issued by the all the CEOs in the
country, which is given around 10 crores per annum, it has been agreed to charge
a flat rate of Rs.25/- (Rs. twenty five only) per article (weight up to 50 grams) for
delivery of EPICs and Notices through Speed Post deliverable within a revenue
district. No volume discount shall be applicable for booking of EPICs and
Notices at flat rate.

1.5 CEOs of the States who already have a BNPL agreement with DoP for booking of
Speed Post articles at the notified rates may continue with existing arrangements or
switch over to this MoU, if they so desire.

1.6 DoP will book the envelopes containing EPICs and Notices issued by CEOs of
respective State through Speed Post under Book Now Pay Later (BNPL) scheme.

1.7 CEOs will pay the Speed Post charges under BNPL for all the EPICs and Notices
booked within a State to the designated Nodal office in the State.

1.8 Speed Post barcode series from AV00000001xIN to AV99999999xIN (‘x’ denotes
check digit) has been earmarked for booking of EPICs and Notices with flat rate of
Rs.25/- per article. The range of bar code series allotted to each State/UT is enclosed
as Annexure-A. In case CEO opts to continue with existing arrangements for
booking of EPICs and Notices at the notified rates, normal bar code series
available with Circles will be used for booking of EPICs and Notices.

1.9 AV series of bar code will be allotted only to those CEOs who will opt for
booking of EPICs and Notices at flat rate of Rs.25/- per article.

1.10 A corporate login ID/API integration will be provided to CEOs and ECI which can be
used for MIS and reporting purpose.

2. Responsibilities of Circles

2.1 In case CEOs opt for booking of EPICs and Notices at flat rate, Circles will identify
the existing BNPL booking office or Bulk Processing Centres (BPCs) in each district
for booking of EPICs and Notices issued by CEOs of the respective States. In case
BNPL booking Centre/BPC is not available in the district, GPO/HPO/MDG can be
identified for booking of EPICs and Notices through Speed Post.
SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 1
2.2 The existing BNPL Customer IDs of CEOs of all the States and Bill Raising office
created and configured for booking of the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballots
(ETPBs) will be used for booking of EPICs and Notices and generation of BNPL
bills to CEOs at the flat rate. The details of BNPL Customer Ids and Contract IDs
of CEOs of all the States and designated Nodal Office of billing is enclosed as
Annexure-B.

2.3 In respect of North East Circle, a BNPL customer in the name of respective CEOs
will be created in Speed Net at each identified booking office and allotted range of
bar code will be configured for booking of EPICs and Notices. The Circle will identify
a Nodal Office in each State of North East Circle for issuing a consolidated bill for
the State and realization of BNPL amount. At the end of month, all the booking
offices in the State will generate the BNPL bill send the same to Nodal Office of the
State by 4th of each month. The Nodal Office will issue a consolidated BNPL bill to
respective CEO as per the guidelines on BNPL facility issued from time to time.

2.4 In case CEOs opt for booking of EPICs and Notices at flat rate, the billing
offices in the Circle will configure the allotted range of AV series bar code
with the Customer ID of respective CEO in the booking system. In order to
generate BNPL bill with flat rate, Circles will send the detail of Customer ID,
Contract ID, facility id of the identified booking offices and range of AV series
bar code allotted to the Circle for booking of EPICs ad Notices at flat rate to
CEPT Mysore under intimation to MB Division. CEPT Mysore will share the
process for generation of bills at the flat rate.

2.5 Circles will map the existing BNPL Customer IDs of CEOs with the Offices identified
for booking of EPICs and Notices in the respective State.

2.6 Circles will share the logic of Speed Post bar code and the format prescribed for
bulk booking of Speed Post with the CEOs of the respective States to get the soft
copy of booking data. A copy of logic of Speed Post Bar Code is enclosed as
Annexure-C.

2.7 Each Circle will designate an officer of appropriate level as the Nodal Officer at the
State Headquarter level for overall monitoring of booking and delivery of articles
and BNPL account settlement with CEOs of the respective States. Divisional
Superintendent of each Division will be the Single Point of Contact (SPoC) for day-
to-day co-ordination with respective District Election Officer at District level.

2.8 Circles will share with the CEOs, the details of District level SPoCs and details of
booking offices identified in each District HQ along with billing office for BNPL
account settlement for booking of EPICs and Notices through Speed Post.

2.9 Circles on behalf of CEOs, will create a corporate login on India Post portal and
share the credentials to the CEOs for getting various reports i.e. booking, delivered,
un-delivered, returned, last event status, redirected articles.

2.10 In order to provide API integration, Circles will obtain a request from CEOs along
with detail of their technical team and forward the same to CEPT Mysore under
intimation to Mail Business Division.

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 2

3. Responsibilities of Election Officers (EOs)

3.1 Chief Election Officer (CEO) of every State will designate an officer of appropriate
level at State as Nodal officer and SPoC at District HQ level for day-to-day co-
ordination with Nodal Officer and SPoCs of DoP.

3.2 CEOs of respective States will ensure that the bar code of allotted series is printed
along with the address of the elector on each envelope. Alternatively, bar code
sticker of allotted series can be affixed on each envelope for which the bar code
stickers will be procured by the respective CEOs.

3.3 EOs of respective States/Districts will ensure to provide PIN Code wise sorted
bundles of envelopes printed/affixed with bar code of allotted series containing
EPICs and Notices deliverable in the respective district only along with soft copy (MS
Excel) of the booking data as per prescribed format for booking at the identified
Office at each District HQ.

3.4 EOs will ensure that complete address of the addressee i.e. elector with correct PIN
Code is clearly mentioned on the envelopes.

3.5 The undelivered articles, if any will be returned to the ‘District Election Officer’ of the
respective district. EO concerned will ensure that the ‘Return to Sender’ address is
clearly mentioned on the envelopes.

3.6 EOs will make all out efforts to capture the mobile number of the addressee on the
address as well as in the soft booking data to ensure expeditious delivery and
sending delivery notifications through SMS to the addressee.

3.7 In order to avail API integration facility, CEOs will send a request mentioning the
detail of their technical team to CPMG/PMG of respective Circle for further
processing with the technical team of DoP.

4. Booking and Dispatch

4.1 The identified booking office will check whether the articles provided by the CEOs
(opting for booking at the flat rate of Rs.25/-) are deliverable in the respective district
only and bar codes of allotted series have been correctly used. The booking office
will verify the number and details of envelopes with the soft booking data provided
by the EO of the respective State/District.

4.2 After verification, the articles will be booked by uploading the soft booking data
against the Customer ID i.e. Customer ID of the CEO of the respective State in the
booking system (PoS).

4.3 In case of TNF offices, working on legacy application, booking and dispatch of EPICs
and Notices will be done through Speed Net application.

4.4 After booking, the BNPL booking Centre/BPC having direct bag closing facility will
prepare separate bags for each delivery office and directly dispatch the bags to the
respective delivery offices on the day of booking without any delay.

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 3

4.5 The BNPL booking Centre/BPC identified for booking having no bag closing facility
will dispatch all the articles to the respective NSH/ICH.

4.6 In case of GPO/HPO/MDG, the articles deliverable from its own delivery jurisdiction,
will be transferred to its delivery branch for delivery through the next delivery batch.
Rest of the articles will be dispatched to respective National Sorting Hub (NSH) or
Intra Circle Hub (ICH), as the case may be on the day of booking without any delay.

4.7 The NSH/ICH on receipt of articles will sort and dispatch the articles to respective
delivery offices in the district along with other Speed Post articles without any delay.

5. Delivery

5.1 Delivery Office on receipt of articles, will invoice the same to respective beats for
delivery and articles deliverable from Branch Post Offices (BOs) will be dispatched
to the respective BOs on the day of receipt.

5.2 The articles will be issued for delivery on the day of receipt in the delivery Post Office
through DPMS/Speed Net only and must be delivered through the Postman Mobile
App (PMA). The name of the person taking the delivery at the address will be
captured in PMA at the door steps of the addressees by the delivery staff.

5.3 The delivery office will ensure updation of date of delivery of articles delivered in
BOs in the system.

5.4 The Supervisor of the delivery office will ensure that the delivery information of
articles delivered has been successfully updated through PMA as well as uploaded
on central server.

5.5 In case of undelivered Speed Post articles containing EPICs and Notices, the in-
charge/Supervisor of delivery office will ensure that appropriate remark as
prescribed in ‘Procedure of Delivery of Speed Post Articles’ issued vide OM number
57-01/2010-BD&MD dated 01.06.2010 has been mentioned on the envelope by the
delivery staff.

5.6 In all the cases of undelivered articles containing EPICs and Notices, an
additional attempt of delivery under the supervision of respective Sr.
Postmaster /SDI /PRI(P) /Mail Overseer will be made invariably. The addressee
can be contacted on the contact number, if mentioned in the address. The
article will be returned only after appropriate check and on the basis of
outcome of the additional attempt of delivery.

5.7 The delivery Post Office will send a report on Returned to Sender EPICs and Notices
to its Divisional Office on a weekly basis. The Divisional Head concerned will
personally review all the cases of Returned to Sender Speed Post article containing
EPICs and Notices and take necessary remedial action to improve the delivery, if
required.

5.8 All the undelivered articles will be returned to the address mentioned on the
envelopes through existing Speed Post routing.

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 4

6. Billing

6.1 In case the CEO has opted for booking at flat rate, the existing billing process
for normal BNPL customers should not be followed. Circle will require to inform
the detail of Customer ID, Contract ID, facility id of the office identified for booking
of EPICs and Notices in the Circle and range of bar code series to CEPT Mysore.
CEPT Mysore in turn will share the process for generation of bills with the flat rate
with the respective Circles. The Nodal Office will generate a single consolidated bill
for total number of articles booked in the States by all the identified booking offices
and issue the same to CEO/s of the respective State/s as per the periodicity
prescribed in BNPL guidelines and instructions issued thereon from time to time.

6.2 In case of CEOs, who have decided to continue booking of EPCIs and Notices as
per the existing BNPL agreement at notified rates, the Nodal Office will generate a
single bill for articles booked in all the booking offices from Point of Sale and issue
the same to CEO/s of the respective State/s.

6.3 District wise/Booking Office wise details of EPICs and Notices booked in the State
is to be provided along with the monthly bill to CEOs.

6.4 GST at the rate of 18% on Speed Post charges for booking of EPICs and Notices
will be applicable till further instructions.

6.5 The CEOs will ensure payment of BNPL bill before the stipulated date mentioned in
the bill.

***************

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 5

 Annexure-A

Circle/State/UT wise range of bar Code of AV series

Sl. Name of Circle Sl. Name of State/UT Barcode Series for booking of ECI
No. No. article at flat rate of Rs. 25/- per article
From To
1 Andhra Pradesh 1 Andhra Pradesh AV00000001XIN AV03500000XIN
2 Assam 2 Assam AV03500001XIN AV06000000XIN
3 Bihar 3 Bihar AV06000001XIN AV11000000XIN
4 Chhattisgarh 4 Chhattisgarh AV11000001XIN AV13000000XIN
5 Gujarat AV15000001XIN AV18100000XIN
5
Gujarat 6 Dadra & Nagar Haveli AV18100001XIN AV18300000XIN
7 Daman & Diu AV18300001XIN AV18500000XIN
6 Haryana 8 Haryana AV18500001XIN AV20500000XIN
7 Himachal Pradesh 9 Himachal Pradesh AV20500001XIN AV21000000XIN
8 J&K 10 J&K AV21000001XIN AV22000000XIN
9 Jharkhand 11 Jharkhand AV22000001XIN AV24500000XIN
10 Karnataka 12 Karnataka AV24500001XIN AV29000000XIN
11 13 Kerala AV29000001XIN AV31900000XIN
Kerala
12 14 Lakshadweep AV31900001XIN AV32000000XIN
Madhya Pradesh 15 Madhya Pradesh AV32000001XIN AV37000000XIN
13 16 Maharashtra AV37000001XIN AV45800000XIN
Maharashtra
14 17 Goa AV45800001XIN AV46000000XIN
18 Tripura AV46000001XIN AV46600000XIN
19 Meghalaya AV46600001XIN AV47000000XIN
20 Manipur AV47000001XIN AV47300000XIN
North East
15 21 Nagaland AV47300001XIN AV47600000XIN
22 Arunachal Pradesh AV47600001XIN AV47800000XIN
23 Mizoram AV47800001XIN AV48000000XIN
Orissa 24 Orissa AV48000001XIN AV51000000XIN
16 Punjab 25 Punjab AV51000001XIN AV52900000XIN
17 Chandigarh 26 Chandigarh AV52900001XIN AV53000000XIN
Rajasthan 27 Rajasthan AV53000001XIN AV57500000XIN
18 28 Tamil Nadu AV57500001XIN AV62900000XIN
Tamil Nadu
19 29 Puducherry AV62900001XIN AV63000000XIN
Telangana 30 Telangana AV63000001XIN AV65500000XIN
20 Uttar Pradesh 31 Uttar Pradesh AV65500001XIN AV75000000XIN
21 Uttarakhand 32 Uttarakhand AV75000001XIN AV76000000XIN
33 West Bengal AV76000001XIN AV82800000XIN
22 West Bengal 34 Sikkim AV82800001XIN AV82900000XIN
35 A.& N. Islands AV82900001XIN AV83000000XIN
‘X’ in bar code series denotes check digit

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 6

 Annexure-B

Circle wise detail of Customer-Ids and Contract IDs of CEOs of all the States/UT

Contact
Customer Customer Contract Bill raising Facility Id of Bill
Circle State Person
Name ID ID Office raising Office
ID
Andhra Andhra Andhra
66959 2000009148 40082085 SPC Guntur PC11405000651
Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh CEO
Guwahati
Assam Assam 66945 Assam CEO 2000009149 40235283 HO12202100000
GPO
Patna
Bihar Bihar 66947 Bihar CEO 2000009125 40099191 PC13250000650
R.M.S., BPC
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh 66952 2000009126 40100985 Raipur HO HO14105100000
CEO
Delhi NCT OF Delhi 67016 Delhi CEO 2000009127 40153488 Delhi GPO HO15102100000
Dadra &
Dadra &
Gujarat 66962 Nagar Haveli 2000009196 40083184 Valsad HO HO16310100000
Nagar Haveli
CEO
Daman & Diu
Daman & Diu 66961 2000009197 40082587 Valsad HO HO16310100000
CEO
Gandhi
Gujarat 66958 Gujarat CEO 2000009128 40249286 HO16104200000
Nagar HO
Haryana
Haryana Haryana 67019 2000009222 40228988 Ambala HO HO17101200000
CEO
Himachal Himachal Himachal
66993 2000009180 40070585 Shimla GPO HO18107100000
Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh CEO
Jammu & Jammu & Jammu & Jammu Tawi
66997 2000009181 40168084 HO19102200000
Kashmir Kashmir Kashmir CEO HPO
Jharkhand
Jharkhand Jharkhand 67029 2000009182 40283383 Ranchi GPO HO20105300000
CEO
Karnataka Bengluru
Karnataka Karnataka 66923 2000009145 40107588 HO21102100000
CEO GPO HO
Trivandrum
Kerala Kerala 66950 Kerala CEO 2000009137 40099693 HO22204200000
GPO
Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep 66991 2000009193 40092485 Kavaratti H.O HO22108100000
CEO
Madhya Madhya Madhya CTT Nagar
67006 2000009138 40187386 HO23102300000
Pradesh Pradesh Pradesh CEO HO
Maharashtra Goa 66988 Goa CEO 2000009169 40122887 Mumbai GPO DV24207000000
Maharashtra
Maharashtra 67012 2000009139 40085193 Mumbai GPO DV24207000000
CEO
Bhubaneswar
Odisha Odisha 66953 Odisha CEO 2000009173 40248185 HO26103100000
G.P.O.
Chandigarh Chandigarh
Punjab Chandigarh 67027 2000009129 40203885 HO27101100000
CEO GPO
Chandigarh
Punjab 67028 Punjab CEO 2000009174 40309782 HO27101100000
GPO
Rajasthan
Rajasthan Rajasthan 66927 2000009175 40202585 Jaipur GPO HO28204100000
CEO
Puducherry Pondicherry
Tamil Nadu Puducherry 66960 2000009195 40275085 HO29109100000
CEO HO
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu 66955 2000009176 40128085 Parktown HO HO29105100000
CEO
Telangana BNPL
Telangana Telangana 66954 2000009147 40233685 BN11204000650
CEO Hyderabad
Uttar Uttar Pradesh Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh 66957 2000009177 40240683 HO30605100000
Pradesh CEO GPO

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 7

 Uttarakhand Dehradun
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand 66996 2000009178 40168588 HO31103200000
CEO GPO
Andaman & Andaman &
KOLKATA
West Bengal Nicobar 67017 Nicobar 2000009220 40252883 HO32108100000
GPO
Islands Islands CEO
KOLKATA
Sikkim 67018 Sikkim CEO 2000009221 40304183 HO32108100000
GPO
West Bengal KOLKATA
West Bengal 66994 2000009179 40087187 HO32108100000
CEO GPO

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 8

 Annexure-C

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 9

 *****************

SP-EPICs [SoP] Page 10