Overview
- The Election Commission of India (ECI) has clarified that duplicate EPIC numbers do not imply the presence of fake or duplicate voters.
- The issue arose from the use of a decentralized and manual system before transitioning to the ERONET platform, leading to identical voter ID numbers in different states or constituencies.
- The ECI emphasized that voters can only cast ballots at their designated polling stations within their registered constituencies, regardless of EPIC number duplication.
- To address concerns, the ECI has announced plans to assign unique EPIC numbers to all registered voters and to update the ERONET 2.0 platform to assist in this process.
- The clarification follows public concerns and political accusations, including claims by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleging electoral manipulation.