Voters show their voter IDs while waiting in queues to cast their votes for the Delhi Assembly election, in New Delhi on February 5.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The story so far: On February 27, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the ruling BJP was “with the blessings of Election Commission of India [EC]” including voters from other States in the West Bengal voters’ list. She cited multiple voters with the same Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers. The EC responded that irrespective of the EPIC number, a person can cast a vote only at their designated polling stations in their respective States or UTs. The poll body said it would remove these duplications. The Trinamool Congress rejected the clarification stating that it was a “cover-up”.
What is an EPIC card?
The EPIC number is a 10-digit voter ID card number issued by the EC to each voter. The number is a unique alphanumeric code assigned to each registered elector to prevent impersonation. It was introduced in 1993 under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, to enhance electoral transparency. It is assigned via the ERONET digital platform when a new voter registers, after which it is linked to State and constituency data to ensure regional uniqueness. The ERONET is a web-based platform which was developed for election officials, in multiple languages and scripts, to handle all processes pertaining to registration, migration, and deletion of names from electoral rolls. The platform automates the process of electoral roll management.
What was the EC’s response?
The Commission said that the allotment of identical EPIC numbers to some voters from different States or UTs was due to the decentralised and manual mechanism being followed prior to shifting the electoral roll database of all States/UTs to the ERONET platform. “This resulted in certain State/UT CEO offices using the same EPIC alphanumeric series and leaving a scope for the possibility of duplicate EPIC numbers being allotted to electors in different Assembly Constituencies in different States/UTs”.
However, it clarified that while EPIC numbers of some of the electors may be identical, the other details including demographic details, constituency and polling booth are different for voters with the same EPIC number. It said that irrespective of the EPIC number, an elector can cast a vote only at their designated polling station in their respective constituency in their State/UT where they are enrolled in the electoral roll and nowhere else. In order to allay any apprehensions, the EC said that it would ensure allotment of unique EPIC numbers to registered electors. “Any case of duplicate EPIC number will be rectified by allotting a unique EPIC number. The ERONET 2.0 platform will be updated to aid and assist in this process”.
What has Trinamool Congress said?
The Trinamool Congress has countered the EC clarification. Trinamool MP Saket Gokhale said that a voter was linked to his photo by the EPIC number. So, when a voter in Bengal goes to cast his vote, his photo on the electoral roll will be different if the same EPIC number has been allotted to a person in another State. This will lead to the refusal of voting due to a photo mismatch. He alleged that by allotting the same EPIC numbers in different States, voting can be denied to those who are likely to vote for non-BJP parties due to photo mismatch. He added that the EC rules mandate that the software used for issuing EPIC cards keeps track of every used and unused number to ensure that the same EPIC number is not allotted to multiple people.
“This clearly reeks of a conspiracy to conduct voter suppression in favour of the BJP, where voters in non-BJP areas are being targeted by issuing their EPIC numbers to people in other States” Mr. Gokhale said. The Trinamool Congress has promised to give more ‘evidence’ on the voter ID row.
Published – March 10, 2025 08:30 am IST