'Accept error in 24 hours or face more embarrassment': TMC warns EC over 'EPIC scam'

New Delhi: Refusing to buy the Election Commission's clarifications on multiple voters' cards having the same number, Trinamool Congress on Monday asked the poll body to "accept the error" in 24 hours and take steps to clean up the electoral rolls in the next 100 days.

If the EC does not accept its "mistake", the Trinamool warned, it will release documents on Tuesday morning that will cause “more embarrassment” to the poll body. It also demanded an investigation to find out "who in the BJP is the mastermind" behind it.

The ultimatum came as the EC on Sunday admitted that some Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) in different states have identical numbers due to a "decentralised and manual mechanism" being followed prior to shifting of the electoral roll database to the ERONET (Electoral Roll Management).

Addressing a press conference with party MPs Sagarika Ghose and Kirti Azad, Trinamool Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O'Brien displayed a list with details of voter cards with the same EPIC number. The issue was first raised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on February 27.

The Trinamool list showed 128 instances of two voters in West Bengal and Haryana having the same EPIC number and in one instance three voters having the same number. All the 129 instances were from Raninagar constituency in West Bengal and Barwala in Haryana.

In one instance, according to the list provided by the Trinamool, two cards were issued for a person with the same name in Haryana and Bengal, while a third person was issued EPIC with the same number in Raninagar.

The names of voters from Bengal were from polling stations in Bardhanpur Primary School, Chargopalpur Primary School, Senpara ICDS Kendra and Kalyanpuri Primary Schools.

O’Brien said that there are several other such instances and claimed most of them were from states ruled by the BJP.

"We want only residents of a state to vote in that state. Only voters of Bengal vote in Bengal…People will be sneaked in from other states to vote. This is unacceptable," he said.

He also claimed that construction projects are initiated in states before polls and in the guise of construction workers, many people are brought in as voters. "This is an EPIC scam," he alleged.

O'Brien said, "There is limited appreciation for the EC (for the clarification). I say limited because the EC is admitting the error but not accepting the error. In the next 24 hours, we humbly ask the EC to also accept the error. If not, we will share a document at 9 am on Tuesday morning. Our demand is that…March, April, May, in the next 100 days, clean up the lists.”

Ghose demanded an immediate investigation into the instances of identical numbers in voter cards. "This is a scam, scandal and criminal offence. A press statement is not enough. A proper criminal investigation is needed to find out who in the BJP is the mastermind behind it," she said.

Azad alleged that the EC has become a "puppet" in the hands of BJP.