Kolkata: Expressing dissatisfaction over the Election Commission’s (EC) response on the duplication of voter card numbers, Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Monday, said that the EC must admit error within 24 hours on duplicate voter card numbers.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Party Leader Derek O’Brien along with the party’s Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sagarika Ghose and Lok Sabha MP Kirti Azad said if the EC fails to come up with erroneous EPIC cards, the party would come out with more documents on the issue. The Trinamool Congress leaders displayed lists with details of voter ID cards with the same EPIC number with that of the valid voters from Bengal. The voter cards in question were mostly from the BJP-ruled states. “We want only residents of a state to vote in that state. Only voters of Bengal should vote in Bengal... Voters will not be allowed to vote as their votes will be cast by people with identical EPIC numbers. These people will be sneaked in from other states to vote. This is unacceptable,” O’Brien said.
Terming it an “Epic Scam”, O’Brien alleged that the poll panel issued the statement after the TMC announced that it was going to hold a press conference on the issue. “Limited appreciation to the EC. I say limited because EC is admitting the error but not accepting the error. In the next 24 hours, we humbly ask the EC to also accept the error. If not, we will share a document at 9 am on Tuesday morning,” he said on Monday.
The EC on Sunday said identical EPIC numbers or series were allotted to some electors from different states and Union territories due to a “decentralised and manual mechanism” being followed prior to shifting of the electoral roll database of all states to the ERONET (Electoral Roll Management) platform.