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Oppn raises chorus for Parl debate on electoral ID cards
Opposition’s offer to debate the EPIC issue underlines they are not adamant to push adjournment motions or stick to debates that mandatorily ends with voting.
New Delhi: Opposition parties have intensified their demand for a debate on the EPIC (the Elector Photo Identity Cards) and voter roll in the Budget session of Parliament next week, amid allegations of duplication of the ID numbers, manipulations in the voter list and related issues over the past few weeks.
A senior Trinamool Congress leader said on Saturday that “nine opposition parties have conveyed their demand to NDA ministers that the Opposition is ready to discuss the issue under any rule”.
The Opposition’s offer to debate the EPIC issue underlines they are not adamant to push adjournment motions or stick to debates that mandatorily ends with voting, according to an opposition leader.
The demand for a debate assumes importance as chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday convened a meeting with the Union home secretary Govind Mohan, legislative department secretary Rajiv Mani and UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar on March 18, to discuss the linking of the EPIC with Aadhaar.
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The development comes amid a growing political row, most recently in Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress on February 27 accused the poll body of manipulating records in a way that amounted to fraud and gave an advantage to its rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Since then, several parties have joined the issue, including the Congress and the Biju Janata Dal, seeking a discussion in parliament on the issue. In a letter dated August 7, 2024, the ECI identified five types of “EPIC discrepancies”: multiple EPIC numbers issued to the same elector, multiple electors with the same EPIC number, states using identical alphanumeric systems, EPICs containing more than 10 digits, and electors who haven’t been issued EPICs.
On February 27, Banerjee accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of enrolling “fake voters” from other states in the electoral rolls with the “help” of the Election Commission.In a clarification issue on March 1, the Election Commission (EC) said same electors photo identity card (EPIC) number does not imply duplicate or fake voters. The EC said that the duplication in EPIC number happened due to the use of “decentralised and manual mechanism” with “identical alphanumeric series” by two different states and Union Territories (UTs). The EC added that to do away with this confusion, it will ensure allotment of a unique EPIC number to all registered electors, and the ‘ERONET 2.0 platform’ will be updated to facilitate and support this process.
Also Read | Election Commission mandates Aadhaar linking amid voter list row
Ever since the second half of the budget session started in Parliament, a group of Opposition parties led by Trinamool demanded a response from the government over alleged duplication of EPIC numbers. On March 10, Lok Sabha’s Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi also demanded a detailed discussion on the electoral roll —capping the Opposition’s discontent over the poll process and citing the alleged discrepancies in the Maharashtra voter list for the 2024 assembly election as duplication of Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) numbers became the latest flashpoint between the Opposition and the Election Commission.
“The entire opposition is demanding a detailed discussion on the voter list in the Parliament. It has been more than a month since my press conference on the irregularities in the voter list of Maharashtra,” he said in the Lok Sabha, after a number of non-Congress parties including Trinamool had flagged the issues.
In the Rajya Sabha, LoP and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “The entire Opposition wants a detailed discussion on the doubts arising regarding various discrepancies in the Voters List. Parliament must protect the faith of the people in Democracy and the Constitution of India. Election Commission of India’s as per its press release dated 2 March 2025, itself admitted about discrepancies in the country’s electoral records. There is large scale duplication of Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) across all states. This seriously undermines voter integrity and our electoral process.”
On Friday, Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien told the government that “If you are not allowing a discussion on the serious issue of Duplicate EPIC voter cards (under Rule 267), let’s have an open discussion next week (under Rule 176). We, 8 (non-Congress) Opposition parties, want Parliament to discuss this. We are being reasonable”.
Naveen Patnaik’s BJD, which usually charts its own course and stays away from both NDA and INDIA bloc has also joined the fray on the EPIC issue.
