NEW DELHI, March 8: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has pledged to resolve the issue of duplicate Voter ID numbers issued across different states within the next three months. This will be done by introducing a unique national Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number for all voters nationwide.

The assurance from the ECI follows widespread concerns, particularly from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), regarding the presence of duplicate voter IDs in electoral rolls. Allegations have been made that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was benefitting from the discrepancies.

In a statement issued on Friday, the ECI clarified that despite the occurrence of identical EPIC numbers, there was no possibility of fraudulent voting. The commission emphasized that electors could only vote in their registered constituencies, which effectively prevented voting irregularities stemming from duplicate IDs.

However, the ECI admitted that the duplication issue arose due to incorrect allotment of EPIC numbers starting from the year 2000, when electoral rolls were managed independently by states and Union Territories (UTs).

“The issue of allotment of duplicate numbers due to incorrect series across States/UTs could not have been detected as the States/UTs were independently managing the electoral roll databases,” the ECI explained. Prior to the introduction of the ERONET platform—a unified web-based system for managing electoral rolls—some Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) offices had used the same alphanumeric series for EPIC numbers, leading to duplication across states.

The ECI also conducted a sample inquiry of over 100 electors with duplicate EPIC numbers, confirming that these voters were legitimate electors. The inquiry reinforced the claim that no fake voters had been added to the electoral rolls.

The TMC, which first raised concerns about the issue, quickly responded, accusing the ECI’s admission as proof of its “guilt.” The party has voiced concerns about voters from other states being added to West Bengal’s electoral rolls, alleging that this practice benefitted the BJP. The controversy erupted on February 27 when West Bengal’s Chief Minister accused the BJP-led central government of including voters from other states in West Bengal’s electoral rolls “with the blessings of the Election Commission.” She alleged that multiple voters shared the same EPIC numbers, further questioning the credibility of the electoral process.

In response, the ECI clarified on March 2 that duplicate EPIC numbers did not mean fake voters were added to the rolls, but were instead the result of earlier errors in the numbering system used by various state electoral offices. However, the commission refrained from addressing why the issue had gone undetected for over two decades.

Meanwhile, the Congress Party dismissed the ECI’s response as “weak and unconvincing.” In a statement on its official social media platform, the party raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral roll. It pointed out a contradiction between the ECI’s current explanation and its earlier stance in a 2008 letter, which clearly stated that voter IDs were unique. “The ECI, in a letter dated September 18, 2008, had clearly stated that voter IDs are unique. Today, the ECI calls the issue of duplicate voter IDs a ‘decades-long problem.’ Which version should the people of India believe?” the Congress questioned in its official statement.