New Delhi, March 7 (HS) : The Election Commission said on Friday that it will solve the decades-old problem of duplicate voter identity card (EPIC) numbers in three months. The Election Commission said in a statement that India’s electoral register is the world’s largest voter database, with more than 99 crore voters registered.
The statement said that the Election Commission conducts annual Special Summary Revision (SSR) exercise every year to update the voter lists, which takes place during the period of October-December every year and the final rolls are published in January the following month. SSR is also conducted before the elections for the states and union territories going to polls. The schedule for the recently concluded SSR 2025 was released on August 07, 2024 and the final rolls were published during January 06-10, 2025.
Explaining its transparent process, the Commission said that a Booth Level Officer is appointed by the Electoral Registration Officer from among the State Government officials at each booth. Political parties are also empowered to appoint Booth Level Agents (BLAs) at each booth. All BLAs are empowered to verify the voter list of the respective booth and lodge complaints in case of discrepancy. After conducting door-to-door field verification, the concerned BLO submits recommendations to the concerned ERO.
After taking into cognizance the above facts, the ERO verifies the details of each voter for updating the voter list. The draft voter list so prepared is published on the website and also made available to political parties and the public. The final list is published only after verification of the draft voter list and settlement of any claims and objections received during a period of one month. If a person has any objection, he has the option of filing a first appeal before the DM/District Collector/Executive Magistrate under Section 24(A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
The Trinamool Congress had raised the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers in many states and also accused the Election Commission of cover-up.
Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
