Amid voter list row, Election Commission calls political parties for a meeting on ‘unresolved issues’

“In an individual letter issued to political parties today, the Commission also envisaged an interaction with the party presidents and senior members of the party, at a mutually convenient time, to further strengthen electoral processes in accordance with the established law,” the EC statement said.

The EC’s move comes amid allegations of irregularities in the electoral roll, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) being the latest party to level the charge. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had last month said at a rally in Kolkata that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was colluding with the EC to get fake voters onto the roll in the state. The TMC has since then raised the issue of several electors of West Bengal having the same Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number as that of electors in other states.

In response, the EC issued two statements saying that the duplicate numbers were a result of the decentralised, manual system of issuing EPIC cards and that now, the ERONET portal would be used to ensure that all electors have unique EPIC numbers.

The EC announced that all electors with duplicate numbers would be given unique ones in three months. It also stated that a duplicate number did not imply fake voters as only those registered to vote in a particular constituency can vote there.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi Monday raised the issue of alleged discrepancies in the electoral roll while speaking in the Lower House. He called for a discussion on the same. The Congress had alleged irregularities in the electoral roll in Maharashtra, saying that there had been a shocking increase in electors between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state held five months apart. The Aam Aadmi Party, too, raised concerns over the accuracy of the electoral roll during the Delhi elections last month.

Last week, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had told CEOs, DEOs and EROs at a conference in New Delhi to hold regular interactions with political parties to resolve their issues. They were asked to submit an action-taken report by March 31.

“Political parties are one of the key stakeholders amongst 28 stakeholders identified by the Commission as per the Constitution and statutory framework covering all aspects of electoral processes. The Commission in its letter to political parties also noted that Representation of the People Act 1950 & 1951; Registration of Electors Rules, 1960; Conduct of Election Rules, 1961; orders of Hon’ble Supreme Court and Instructions, Manuals and Handbooks issued by Election Commission of India from time to time (available on ECI website) have established a decentralised, robust and transparent legal framework for holding free and fair elections,” the EC statement read.