Those who are having the same voter ID number are not bogus voters: ECI
Same electors photo identify card (EPIC) number does not imply duplicate or fake voters, the Election Commision of India (ECI) clarified.
ECI released a statement explaining that an elector can only vote at the polling booth mentioned in his EPIC, which will be different even if the EPIC number is same.
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 (HT photo)
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 (HT photo)
This follows certain reports circulated on social media that electors in two different States were getting the same Voter ID numbers.
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).
“Irrespective of the EPIC number, any elector can cast a vote only at their designated polling station in their respective constituency in their State/UT where they are enrolled in the electoral roll and nowhere else. The allotment of identical EPIC number/series to some electors from different States/UTs was due to a decentralized and manual mechanism being followed prior to shifting of the electoral roll database of all States/UTs to the ERONET platform. This resulted in certain State/UT Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) office using the same EPIC alphanumeric series and leaving a scope for the possibility of duplicate EPIC numbers being allotted to electors in different Assembly Constituencies in different States/UTs,” read the statement issued on Sunday.
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.