The issue of duplicate voter photo identification card (EPIC) numbers, which has been persisting for the last 25 years, will be resolved within the next three months. A campaign to address this will soon begin in the respective states. The Election Commission made a key announcement about this on March 7. The Commission stated that the allocation of identical EPIC numbers in states was done in the year 2000. However, this does not affect the geographical identity of any voter, nor does it imply that these are fraudulent voters. Despite having the same EPIC number, voters can only vote at the polling station where their name appears on the voter list.

This issue was raised recently by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, after which the Election Commission promptly clarified the situation. It was explained that this was simply a mistake of the states, who had allocated similar number series. According to the Commission, this issue never came to light earlier because there was no centralized system for EPIC number allocation. As soon as the EPIC numbers were linked to a centralized platform, the issue emerged.

In the directives issued to states on March 7, the Commission stated that they must soon identify and address the cases of identical EPIC numbers. These numbers will be replaced with unique EPIC numbers. Notably, the issue of identical EPIC numbers is present in some districts of Bengal, Gujarat, Haryana, and Rajasthan. The new system will also be applied to future voters. After detailed discussions with technical teams and the Chief Electoral Officers of the concerned states, the Commission has decided to resolve this issue within the next three months.