NEW DELHI: Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday called for a discussion in the House over alleged discrepancies in the voter list, saying that similar concerns had been raised across multiple states. He cited the example of Maharashtra assembly polls.”Question is being raised on the voter list in every states. In Maharashtra, questions were raised on black and white voter list. The entire opposition is just saying that there should be a discussion on the voter’s list,” he said.TMC MP Saugata Roy also pointed out instances of identical Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers in voter lists across Haryana and West Bengal, calling it a “serious flaw” that could impact upcoming elections in Bengal and Assam. He urged the Election Commission (EC) to conduct a thorough revision of the voter list. AAP MP Sanjay Singh accused the ECI and the central government of manipulating voter rolls by creating fake entries, alleging similar practices in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Delhi. He warned that such irregularities could undermine fair elections and lead to political monopoly and corruption. “Election Commission and central govt, that is the party in power, together, by misusing government machinery, fake voters are being made. They did that in Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi, now they have started the same in Bengal as well…if the election process is not fair…Only one party will keep coming to power and they will do corruption as well.” Singh stated.On March 6, a TMC delegation met ECI officials in Kolkata, demanding physical verification of voter lists to ensure each voter has a unique ID. West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim stressed that outsiders should not be granted voting rights in the state.”Every voter should have a unique ID number; there should be physical verification, and people from outside should not have a voting right here,” Hakim told ANI.West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee also formed a committee to investigate voter list irregularities in West Bengal, accusing the BJP of adding fake voters to manipulate elections. “Sitting in the Election Commissioner’s office, they have created a fake voter’s list online, and in every district of West Bengal, fake voters have been added. Using this trick, they have won elections in Delhi and Maharashtra. The opposition in Maharashtra could not find out these facts. Most of the fake voters are from Haryana and Gujarat. BJP is manipulating voters list with the blessing of EC, Bengal’s culture gave rise to independence,” Bengal CM said earlier this week.In response, the ECI issued a clarification on March 2, stating that identical EPIC numbers do not indicate fake or duplicate voters. “Irrespective of the EPIC number, any elector can cast a vote only at their designated polling station in their respective Constituency in their State/UT where they are enrolled in the electoral roll and nowhere else.” ECI clarified in a statement.”The allotment of identical EPIC number/series to some electors from different States/UTs was due to a decentralized and manual mechanism being followed prior to shifting of the electoral roll database of all States/UTs to the ERONET platform. This resulted in certain State/UT CEO offices using the same EPIC alphanumeric series and leaving a scope for the possibility of duplicate EPIC numbers being allotted to electors in different Assembly Constituencies in different States/UTs,” the statement added.
‘Question being raised in every state’: Rahul Gandhi demands discussion on voter’s list in Lok Sabha | India News
