Election Commission of India spells out ways to remove EPIC discrepancies

GUWAHATI: With the Lok Sabha election of 2024 around the corner, the Election Commission of India wants the removal of all discrepancies in the Electors’ Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) of voters.

The Election Commission of India recently issued a directive to the CEOs (Chief Electoral Officers) of Assam and other states to this effect, stating that any discrepancies in EPIC, if any, need to be removed ahead of the Special Summary Revision (SSR)-2024 of photo electoral rolls as the pre-revision activity.

The EPIC plays a crucial role as voters have to produce it for identification while casting votes.

According to the ECI, the types of discrepancies in EPIC are

(i) Repeat EPICs: There are two types of repeat EPICs: (a) multiple EPIC numbers issued to the same elector, and (b) multiple electors with the same EPIC number.

(ii) EPICS containing more than a 10-digit alpha-numeric number.

(iii.) Two or more states having the same serial number of the alpha-mumeric system for EPIC distributed in the Assembly constituencies of the state concerned.

(iv) Electors who have not been issued EPICs.

In the case of multiple EPIC numbers issued to the same elector, the current EPIC number should be retained and multiple entries should be removed.

In cases of multiple electors with the same EPIC number, the EPIC number issued to the first elector shall be retained, and all other electors will be given fresh EPICs with new EPIC numbers. The old EPICs from such electors should be collected and destroyed by cutting them into pieces after keeping a proper record.

The Commission has already issued a proper Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for changing a non-standard EPIC number to a standard 10-digit Alphanumeric EPIC number.

The same EPIC numbers that are being used by two different states may be identified using IT tools, and the states concerned may be asked to follow the allotted code for generating standard EPIC numbers.

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