Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) and Allegations of Voter Fraud

Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) and Allegations of Voter Fraud

Sub: Polity

Sec: Elections

Allegations of Voter Fraud

• West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee has accused the BJP of colluding with the Election Commission (EC) to influence the upcoming Assembly election in West Bengal using fake voters.
• Banerjee flagged several electors with the same Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number, raising concerns over the purity of the electoral roll.
• Similar allegations of voter fraud have been made in Maharashtra and Delhi in the past.

Election Commission’s Response

• The Election Commission clarified that some electors do indeed have identical EPIC numbers, but they belong to different states.
• The EC emphasized that duplication in EPIC numbers does not imply duplicate or fake voters.

What is an EPIC?

• The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 provides for an Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to be issued to all electors to prevent impersonation.
• EPICs were first issued by state governments in 1993.
• An EPIC is an identity document but does not grant the holder the right to vote. Voting rights are only available to those whose names appear in the electoral roll of their respective constituencies.

Details Contained in an EPIC

• Name of the elector
• Age of the elector
• Residence and other particulars specified by the EC
• Photograph of the elector
• Facsimile signature of the registration officer

EPIC Number and Its Uniqueness

• As per the EC’s Manual on Electoral Rolls, 2023, “every EPIC is issued under a unique EPIC Number.”
• The EPIC number is an alphanumeric series consisting of three alphabetical codes followed by a seven-digit number.
• This number includes a Functional Unique Serial Number (FUSN) for each Assembly constituency.

 Issuance and Management of EPICs

• Since 2017, EPICs have been generated using the EC’s ERONET portal.
• EPICs can only be made online through this system.
• A unique EPIC number is allotted to every elector when an EPIC is issued for the first time.
• In the case of a replacement EPIC, the number remains the same as the original.