Voter card number duplication doesn't imply fraud, says EC

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Sunday clarified that duplication in electors photo identify card (EPIC) number allotted to electors from two different states/UTs does not imply duplicate or fake voters as the elector can only vote at the polling booth mentioned in his EPIC, which will be different even if the card number is same.
Stating that identical alphanumeric series may have been used by two different states/UTs under the decentralised and manual mechanism followed prior to shifting of the electoral roll database of all states/UTs to the

ERONET platform

, the EC, however, clarified that even in EPIC with identical numbers, other fields, including demographic details, assembly constituency and polling booth, are different.
"Irrespective of the

EPIC number

, any elector can cast a vote only at their designated polling station in their respective constituency in the state/UT where they are enrolled in the electoral roll, and nowhere else," the poll panel underlined.
Conceding that the use of the same alphanumeric series in EPIC cards issued by certain state/UT chief electoral officer's (CEO) offices left scope for duplicate EPIC numbers being allotted to electors in different assembly constituencies in different states/UTs, the commission on Sunday said it has decided to ensure the allotment of unique EPIC number 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," it said.

The EC clarification on duplication in EPIC numbers came after a TMC leader flagged the case of an elector from Cooch Behar, West Bengal, who allegedly shared the same EPIC number with another elector in Didarganj, Uttar Pradesh. Only last week, West Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had alleged the presence of "fake" and "outsider" voters in the state.