NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India on Tuesday met a delegation of the Trinamool Congress and assured the resolution of all its concerns regarding EPIC numbers, duplicate, shifted & dead voters & illegal migrants.
“The Commission mentioned that all concerns including duplicate EPIC numbers, duplicate, shifted & dead voters &illegal migrants will be resolved by each Booth Level Officer & concerned Electoral Registration Officer with active participation of Booth level Agents appointed by all political parties,” the poll body said in a post on X.
After the meeting, TMC MP Sagarika Ghose pressed upon the issue of duplicate EPIC cards and said suggested that the EC “should bring out a separate roll and mention where the deletions and changes have been made.”
“The issue of duplicate EPIC cards is extremely serious…All opposition parties have recognized it ever since West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee flagged the issue…Ever since we have provided solid evidence of duplicate EPIC cards, the Election Commission is still not telling us how many duplicate EPIC cards are there…We have given some suggestions on how electoral roles can be cleaned up…If there are any changes in the electoral roll, the Election Commission should bring out a separate roll and mention where the deletions and changes have been made,” she said.
“We have already provided solid evidence on duplicate EPIC cards. There is credible evidence that Aadhaar cards are being cloned and they are being used for fake voter registration…How will the Election Commission ensure that the cloning of the Aadhaar card will not affect the EPIC card? Transparency and rigorous investigation is necessary. Stonewalling will not work. The Election Commission has to walk the talk because electoral rolls are central to a free and fair poll,” she added.
The opposition has been demanding a discussion on irregularities in the recently concluded state elections calling it “crucial to protecting the values of democracy and the Constitution.”
“The entire opposition is demanding a detailed discussion on the voter list in Parliament. It has been over a month since my press conference regarding irregularities in Maharashtra’s voter list. However, the demands we made to the Election Commission for transparency have yet to be fulfilled, and the questions remain unanswered. Now, new evidence of duplicate names in the voter list has emerged, raising even more serious concerns. This discussion is crucial to protecting the values of democracy and the Constitution,” leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Monday.
Also read: Assign unique EPIC number to every voter, TMC tells poll panel
Meanwhile, the poll body requested national and state political parties to submit suggestions by April 30 to resolve any pending electoral issues at the levels of Electoral Registration Officers (ERO), District Election Officers (DEO), or Chief Electoral Officers (CEO).
