NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress on Monday expressed dissatisfaction with the Election Commission’s response on the duplication of voter card numbers, saying the poll panel must accept the error within 24 hours. Addressing a press conference here, TMC Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Party Leader Derek O’Brien said if the EC fails to do it, the party would come out with more documents on the issue on Tuesday morning.

O’Brien, along with TMC Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sagarika Ghose and Lok Sabha MP Kirti Azad, displayed lists with details of voter id cards with the same EPIC number, and said 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 to vote in Bengal… Voters will not be allowed to vote as their votes will be cast by people with identical EPIC numbers,” O’Brien said.

“These people will be sneaked in from other states to vote. This is unacceptable,” he added. Amid reports flagging issuance of identical voter card numbers to electors in two different states, the EC on Sunday said it will rectify the issue and also update its technology-driven platform. The poll authority asserted that while the elector photo identity card (EPIC) numbers of some of the voters “may be identical”, the other details, including demographic details, assembly constituency and polling booth, are different.

Terming it an “Epic Scam”, O’Brien alleged that the poll panel issued the statement after the TMC announced that it was going to hold a press conference on the issue. “Limited appreciation to the EC. I say limited because EC is admitting the error but not accepting the error,” he said. “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,” he said.

The TMC leaders also demanded an in-depth probe into this. The EC on Sunday said identical EPIC numbers or series were allotted to some electors from different states and Union territories due to a “decentralised and manual mechanism” being followed prior to shifting of the electoral roll database of all states to the ERONET (Electoral Roll Management) platform.

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