Election Commission proposes meeting with parties to improve electoral processes

NEW DELHI: Amid allegations of fudging of electoral rolls, the Election Commission invited political parties on Tuesday for an interaction to strengthen the electoral process.

In a statement, the EC said it has invited suggestions from all national and state political parties by April 30 for “any unresolved issues” at the level of electoral registration officers, district election officers and chief electoral officers.

In individual letters issued to political parties on Tuesday, the Election Commission also suggested an interaction with party presidents and senior members “at a mutually convenient time, to further strengthen electoral processes in accordance with the established law”.

During an EC conference last week, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar instructed CEOs, DEOs and EROs of all states to hold regular interactions with political parties, resolve any suggestions received in such meetings strictly within the legal framework already in place and submit an action taken report by March 31.

The Commission had also urged political parties to pro-actively use this mechanism of decentralised engagement. Political parties are one of the key stakeholders among 28 identified by it.

In its letter to political parties, EC also noted that Representation of the People Act 1950 and 1951, Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, Conduct of Election Rules, 1961; orders of Supreme Court have established a decentralised, robust and transparent legal framework for holding free and fair elections.

The issue of duplicate numbers was raised in Parliament by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi who demanded a discussion in the House on the issue of voter lists on which several political parties have raised certain questions.

Meanwhile, sources said that the BJP, TMC and BJD have agreed to send their workers involved in the electoral procedure for training with the Election Commission to increase awareness of electoral laws and procedures.

The BJP, TMC and BJD delegations had met the Election Commission (EC) earlier in the day to flag issues related to electoral rolls.

The sources said the three parties agreed to nominate their booth-level agents, polling agents, counting agents and election agents for EC’s training programmes.

In a series of posts on X, the EC had earlier said it told the TMC delegation that all concerns including duplicate voter card numbers, duplicate, shifted and dead voters and illegal migrants would be resolved by each booth-level officer and concerned electoral registration officer with active participation of booth-level agents appointed by all political parties.

It told the BJP delegation that only citizens of India who are above 18 years of age can be registered as electors in the polling booths where they are ordinary residents.

It said updation of the electoral roll is a participative process with all political parties including established mechanisms of appeal under election laws. It told the BJD that political parties are important stakeholders who are involved at every stage of the electoral process.

Meanwhile, a ten-member delegation from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar earlier in the day, voicing concerns over discrepancies in the voter list, particularly the issue of duplicate Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPICs).

The delegation, which included members from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, submitted a six-page memorandum highlighting the severity of the problem. West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, along with the party’s national general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee, played a key role in drafting the memorandum.

For months, the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers has remained a contentious subject, with the TMC persistently urging the Election Commission of India (ECI) for a resolution. The party has warned that errors in electoral rolls could lead to the exclusion of genuine voters, particularly in politically sensitive states like West Bengal. By mobilising its cadre to verify discrepancies and directly approaching the ECI, the TMC has underscored its commitment to safeguarding electoral integrity.

The memorandum pointed to broader concerns about India’s electoral process, following revelations that duplicate EPICs had been issued to multiple voters across different states. Mamata Banerjee first raised the issue publicly on February 27, triggering a political storm. She alleged that the same EPIC number had been assigned to different voters in separate states, raising fears of electoral fraud and voter suppression.

Shortly after Banerjee’s public remarks, the AITC held a press conference on March 2 to address the matter. Hours later, the ECI issued a press note acknowledging the duplication but attributing it to pre-2017 manual electoral roll management practices.

The ECI explained that before the introduction of ERONET, a centralised electoral roll management system, voter registration was decentralised, leading to some state CEO offices inadvertently assigning identical EPIC numbers to voters across constituencies. The Commission assured that, despite these duplications, voters could only cast their ballot at their designated polling stations.

The AITC, however, challenged this explanation, questioning why the issue had remained undetected for nearly eight years since ERONET’s implementation in 2017. In another statement, the EC admitted that the problem had existed since 2000 and pledged to resolve it within three months. However, the Commission did not disclose the number of duplicate EPICs issued, the states most affected, or how the resolution process would impact voters.

Further complicating the matter is the linkage of EPIC numbers with Aadhaar, a process initiated by the ECI through Form 6B. While legally voluntary, the form does not provide an explicit opt-out option, instead requiring voters to either submit their Aadhaar number or declare they do not possess one.

This ambiguity, coupled with reports of cloned Aadhaar cards being used for fraudulent voter registrations, has intensified fears of electoral manipulation.

The controversy has reignited broader debates over voter roll deletions and additions. Opposition parties in multiple states, including Maharashtra and Delhi, have raised concerns about the unexplained removal of voter names and the inclusion of potentially fraudulent registrations through online systems. Reports from West Bengal suggest that many fraudulent registrations have been approved via mobile applications used by election officers without proper verification of identity and address proof.

The AITC has demanded that the ECI publish detailed reports on electoral roll changes, including separate lists for deletions, additions, and modifications.