“In the interest of transparency…”: Trinamool Congress Raises Concerns over Duplicate EPICs in Letter to Election Commission of India

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner on Wednesday, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) raised concerns about the issue of duplicate Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) being issued to voters across India. The party demanded detailed clarifications from the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the matter, which it believes has the potential to affect the integrity of the electoral process.

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The concerns were initially raised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on February 27, during an event at the Netaji Subhash Indoor Stadium in Kolkata. She highlighted instances where the same EPIC numbers had been issued to voters in different states, including West Bengal. She urged the Trinamool Congress leaders and workers to be extra vigilant in the run up to the all important state assembly elections, due in 2026. In response, the ECI acknowledged the issue in a press release on March 2, stating that the duplication had occurred due to a decentralised manual process that preceded the implementation of the ERONET platform in 2017.
However, the AITC has contested the ECI's explanation. In its letter, the party pointed out that EPIC numbers are designed to be unique and that the issuance of duplicate EPICs violates the ECI’s own guidelines. "EPIC numbers are meant to be unique for every assembly constituency in India," the letter stated, challenging the ECI’s justification. The AITC also referred to the ECI’s "Handbook for Electoral Registration Officers" published in 2012, which mandates that once an EPIC number is issued, it cannot be reused.
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Despite the ECI's second press release on March 7, admitting that duplicate EPICs had indeed been issued since the year 2000, the party expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of answers to “critical” questions. "Why was this issue of duplicate EPIC numbers kept buried for years?" the letter questioned, citing the delay in addressing the problem despite multiple electoral roll revisions since 2017. The party also raised concerns about the potential consequences for voters, emphasising that the duplication of EPICs could result in voter disenfranchisement or fraudulent voting.
In addition to the issue of duplicate EPICs, the letter raised two other concerns: the “arbitrary deletion” and addition of voter names in the electoral rolls and the alleged registration of fake voters through online portals. The party demanded that the ECI introduce a mechanism to track and publicly disclose changes in the electoral roll, including deletions and new additions, to ensure transparency. Furthermore, the AITC criticised the lack of a robust verification system for online voter registration, warning that fake voter registrations could undermine the legitimacy of elections.
The letter concluded by urging the Election Commission to address these issues in a detailed manner, stating that the concerns raised by the party were of critical importance to the credibility of the electoral process. "We have utmost respect for the ECI and, therefore, in the interest of transparency, we call upon the ECI to issue a detailed explanation on the multiple questions raised by the All India Trinamool Congress," the letter stated.​