EC failed in its duty, Trinamool claims after Commission promises unique national EPIC number

Trinamool Congress criticizes ECI for EPIC number duplication, vows to fix issue; questions BJP involvement, demands accountability.

Reacting to a statement by the Election Commission of India (ECI) that it will ensure a unique national EPIC (Election Photo Identity Card) number to the existing electors and will fix the issue in three months, the Trinamool Congress on Friday said that ECI has failed in its duty.

“After offering flimsy clarifications, @ECISVEEP finally admits to manipulating the voter list. Now, in a last-ditch attempt at damage control, they claim they will “fix the issue” in 3 months,” the Trinamool Congress said on social media platform X from its official handle.

Trinamool Congress chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had raised the issue of two electors having the same EPIC numbers on February 27, following which the ECI clarified that duplication in EPIC number does not imply duplicate or fake voters.

On Friday (March 7, 2025), the ECI issued another press statement titled ‘Commission to address decade-long issue of duplicate EPIC numbers in next 3 months’.

“The only reason this scam has been exposed is because Smt. @MamataOfficial called out the ECI’s and nailed them to the wall,” the West Bengal’s ruling party said.

Raising questions such as how did an “incorrect series” slip through and what happened to the software meant to detect duplicate EPICs, the Trinamool Congress said, “ The ECI has not just failed in its duty, it has become a willing accomplice in @BJP4India’s electoral fraud”.

In the social media post the Trinamool Congress asked if this “manipulation has been happening since 2000, why was NOTHING done for 25 years and why was the ECI still silent on the number of duplicate voter IDs currently in circulation”.