{"id":45274,"date":"2025-03-08T11:32:23","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T06:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=45274"},"modified":"2025-05-06T18:47:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T13:17:20","slug":"election-commission-to-resolve-duplicate-voter-id-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/election-commission-to-resolve-duplicate-voter-id-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Election Commission to Resolve Duplicate Voter ID Issue in Three Months"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Duplicate Voter ID Latest News<\/li>\n<li>Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC)<\/li>\n<li>Allegation on Electoral Roll Manipulation<\/li>\n<li>Election Commission\u2019s Response on Duplicate EPIC Numbers<\/li>\n<li>Duplicate Voter ID FAQs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Duplicate Voter ID Latest News<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Election Commission (EC) has pledged to resolve the long-standing issue of duplicate voter ID numbers within three months. This follows concerns from Opposition parties over potential voter manipulation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The EC acknowledged that different individuals could share the same <strong>Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC)<\/strong> number due to states using identical alphanumeric series but denied this indicated fake voters. Opposition leaders argue that duplicate voter IDs exist within the same state.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>According to the EC\u2019s Manual on Electoral Rolls, 2023, all EPICs should have unique numbers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <i>Registration of Electors Rules, 1960<\/i> mandates the issuance of Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) to prevent voter impersonation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>State governments began issuing EPICs to registered voters in 1993.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Nature of EPICs<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>EPICs serve as identity documents but do not grant the right to vote. Only those listed in the electoral roll of a constituency can vote.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>An EPIC includes the voter&#8217;s name, age, residence, specified particulars, a photograph, and the facsimile signature of the registration officer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Unique EPIC Number System<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>As per the EC Manual on Electoral Rolls, 2023, each EPIC is assigned a unique alphanumeric number consisting of three alphabetical codes followed by a seven-digit number.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This includes a Functional Unique Serial Number (FUSN) for each Assembly constituency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Issuance Process<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Since 2017, EPICs have been generated through the EC\u2019s ERONET portal and can only be created online.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>A unique EPIC number is assigned to a voter when issued for the first time. If a replacement is needed, the original number remains unchanged.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Allegation on Electoral Roll Manipulation<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A prominent political party has alleged that many voters have the same EPIC number, raising concerns about the integrity of the electoral roll.<\/li>\n<li>It further alleged that non-residents were being brought into Bengal to vote using duplicated EPIC numbers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Election Commission\u2019s Response on Duplicate EPIC Numbers<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Election Commission (EC) acknowledged the existence of duplicate EPIC numbers but clarified that this does not indicate fake voters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Reason for Duplication<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Before the introduction of the ERONET platform, different states used the same alphanumeric series for EPICs, leading to duplication.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, other voter details, such as name, address, constituency, and polling booth, remained unique.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Clarification on Voting Rights<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The EC emphasized that an elector can only vote at their designated polling station within their registered constituency, regardless of their EPIC number.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Plan for Rectification<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>To address concerns, the EC assured that unique EPIC numbers would be assigned to all registered voters.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The ERONET 2.0 platform will be updated to facilitate this process, and new EPIC numbers will be issued to those affected by duplication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Duplicate Voter ID FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1.<\/strong> What is the issue of duplicate voter IDs?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> Some voters share the same EPIC number due to states using identical alphanumeric series before ERONET\u2019s introduction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>Why is the Election Commission addressing duplicate EPIC numbers?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans. <\/strong>Opposition parties raised concerns over electoral roll integrity, alleging voter duplication and potential election manipulation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>How does the EC plan to resolve duplicate voter IDs?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans. <\/strong>The EC will update ERONET 2.0 to assign unique EPIC numbers to all voters within three months.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4. <\/strong>Do duplicate EPIC numbers indicate fake voters?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans. <\/strong>The EC denies fake voter claims, stating that voting rights depend on electoral roll listing, not just EPIC numbers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q5. <\/strong>What is ERONET and its role in voter ID management?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans. <\/strong>ERONET is the EC\u2019s online platform ensuring unique EPIC issuance and eliminating duplication across states.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/everyday-explainers\/mamata-voter-fraud-identical-epic-numbers-9866100\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/election-commission-duplicate-voter-id-9874427\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/will-address-the-issue-of-duplicate-epic-cards-issued-to-voters-over-next-three-months-says-eci\/article69303100.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The EC plans to eliminate duplicate voter IDs within three months, ensuring unique EPIC numbers and preventing electoral roll manipulation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-45274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}