Kolkata, March 6 West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) ensure a "Unique ID" for the EPIC (electoral photo identity cards) on the lines of Aadhaar cards and passports.
A five-member Trinamool Congress delegation led by the party’s West Bengal President Subrata Bakshi arrived at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Thursday and submitted a representation on the issue.
The other four members of the delegation were state Municipal Affairs & Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, Power Minister Arup Biswas, Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya and the party Rajya Sabha member Ritabrata Banerjee.
Coming out of the CEO's office after submitting the representation, Hakim told media persons that the BJP is trying to make the election process in India a farcical exercise. "Our demand is that two voters from two different states should not have the same EPIC number. Just like Aadhaar cards and passports, the EPIC should also have Unique IDs," he said.
He also said that the delegation also demanded a physical verification in case of those voters who have been registered online. "The commission has to ensure that not a single voter from any other state is able to vote in West Bengal in the 2026 Assembly elections," Hakim said.
On Tuesday, the first meeting of the Trinamool’s internal core committee constituted last month to screen the voters’ list in West Bengal and identify the bogus voters there was conducted. In the meeting, it was decided the party will embark on a door-to-door survey from this weekend to identify fake voters existing in the state’s voters’ list.
The main allegation of the Trinamool Congress was that the BJP has won landslide victories in the recent Assembly elections in Delhi and Maharashtra because of such manipulations in the voters’ list and is trying to adopt the same exercise in West Bengal as well.
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