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The party, along with the Trinamool Congress, also alleged that multiple voters were found registered under the same voter ID number within the same constituency and even across different states
EC officials said Delhi, which saw both AAP and BJP up the ante on fake voters and voter list manipulation, saw zero Form 7 objections. (PTI)
The Congress has accused the Election Commission Of India (EC) of manipulating voter lists to aid the BJP, reiterating that during the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections, “EC registered an astonishing 40 lakh new voters within just five months—far exceeding the 32 lakh new voter registrations recorded over the entire previous five-year period (2019-2024)”.
The charge came after a meeting of the Party’s Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts (EAGLE) on Monday.
EC Rejects Allegations
Top EC officials, however, rejected the charges as baseless. Speaking to CNN-News18, officials claimed that for the Maharashtra elections, only one complaint was raised about registration of a new voter.
“Any political party, candidate, or party worker can fill up Form 7 to object to inclusion of any name in the voter list. The BLO is obliged to act on your complaint and provide redressal. Provisions exist at multiple levels for appeal and counter appeal. Yet, in Maharashtra, where the charge is addition of lakhs of doubtful voters, we received only one objection,” an official said.
EC officials said as per RP Act 1950, Registration of Electors Rules 1960, and Manual on Electoral Rolls, the Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), District Election Officers (DEOs), and Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) concerned in any state/UT work for the updation of electoral rolls with active participation of booth-level agents appointed by political parties.
Any specific claim or objections are to be made first before the BLOs, AEROs and EROs concerned.
EC officials said Delhi, which saw both AAP and BJP up the ante on fake voters and voter list manipulation, saw zero Form 7 objections.
In December last year, then CEC Rajiv Kumar had rejected Congress’s charge that 50,000 voters were added on an average in 50 assembly constituencies between July and November 2024 in Maharashtra. It was claimed that the BJP-led Mahayuti won 47 of these seats.
Kumar had clarified that the increase was just in six assembly seats. He also said complete data related to voters of every assembly seat in Maharashtra and Form 20 (polling booth wise result) is available on the website of the Maharashtra Election Commission and can be downloaded.
Congress, however, kept up the attack, with LoP Rahul Gandhi alleging in Lok Sabha that numbers equalling the voting population of Himachal Pradesh were added to Maharashtra assembly election voter list.
The Congress had set up an eight-member team — EAGLE — last month to keep a “bird’s eye view” on elections in the country and “monitor the conduct of free and fair elections by the Election Commission”. The panel includes Congress leaders Ajay Maken, Digvijaya Singh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Praveen Chakravarty, Pawan Khera, Gurdeep Singh Sappal, Nitin Raut, and Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy.
Same Voter ID number
EAGLE also alleged that multiple voters were found registered under the same voter ID number within the same constituency and even across different states. The party called this “an unprecedented violation of electoral integrity”.
The statement from the grouping said: “Unique voter ID for every Indian voter is the fundamental requirement and premise of a clean voter list. Multiple voters having the same voter ID number is as bizarre as multiple vehicles bearing the same registration number.”
Earlier the EC had clarified that duplication in EPIC number does not imply duplicate/fake voters.
“Election Commission has taken cognizance of certain social media posts and media reports flagging the issue of electors of two different states having identical EPIC numbers. In this regard, it is clarified that while EPIC numbers of some of the electors may be identical, the other details including demographic details, Assembly Constituency and polling booth are different for the electors with the same EPIC number. 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.
“The allotment of identical EPIC number/series to some electors from different States/UTs was due to a decentralised 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 EC spokesperson said “to allay any apprehensions, the commission has decided to ensure allotment of unique EPIC number to registered electors. Any case of duplicate EPIC number will be rectified by allotting a unique EPIC number. The ERONET 2.0 platform will be updated to aid and assist in this process”.
Congress, however, rejected the clarification, saying that it has now been revealed that there are cases of the same ID number used by several voters within the same state and even the same constituency. The party said it will pursue legal, political, and legislative remedies on these concerns.
TMC Joins In
The Grand Old Party is not alone in its allegations. The Trinamool Congress has also dismissed the Election Commission’s clarifications on duplicate voter ID numbers as a “cover-up” and cited the poll panel’s own guidelines to assert that two cards cannot have the same number.
The TMC alleged a “scam” in issuing duplicate voter ID card numbers and gave the poll panel a 24-hour deadline to “accept its mistake”.
Party Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale shared on X excerpts from the ‘Handbook For Electoral Registration Officers’ to counter the poll panel’s clarifications on the issue, which was first raised by party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“Yesterday, All India Trinamool Congress had given Election Commission of India 24 hours to admit and accept their blunder on the duplicate voter ID fraud issue. Clearly, the ECI, which has been exposed, wants to brazen it out,” Gokhale said.
“The ‘clarification’ given by ECI (on Sunday) in response to CM Mamata Banerjee is actually a cover-up. They have admitted there’s something wrong but are refusing to accept it. The false ‘clarification’ given by the ECI contradicts their own rules and guidelines,” he said.
