Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday demanded in Parliament a comprehensive discussion on alleged discrepancies in the voters’ list.
Raising the issue in Rajya Sabha, Kharge demanded that all the listed business in the House should be suspended for the day, and there should be a discussion over the voter ID publication in the electoral roll.
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Later, he said the entire Opposition wants a detailed discussion on the doubts that have arisen regarding various discrepancies in the voters’ list and that Parliament must protect the faith of the people in democracy and the Constitution of India.
Referring to the statement issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on duplication in Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC), he said, “ECI, as per its press release dated 2 March 2025, itself admitted about discrepancies in the country’s electoral records. There is a large-scale duplication of EPIC across all states. This seriously undermines voter integrity and our electoral process.”
“The Congress party has already raised the issue of the sudden surge of lakhs of voters in Maharashtra in just six months between Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. ECI has yet to respond to our demand of providing us with a combined photo voter list in Excel format, which has been used for voting,” Kharge said.
The Congress chief asserted that ”the abrupt and unwarranted deletion of voters, the presence of duplicate EPIC numbers, and other such crucial issues affecting the integrity of our electoral process require urgent attention and discussion in Parliament”.
He said these large-scale “irregularities” pose a threat to the free and fair conduct of elections, and it is imperative for Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to allow a comprehensive discussion on the matter in Parliament.
Gandhi, while raising the matter during Zero Hour in the Lower House, said, “The Question is being raised on voters’ list across the country. Questions were raised about the black and white voters’ list in Maharashtra. The entire Opposition together is saying that there should be a detailed discussion on the voters’ list.”
“It has been more than a month since my press conference on the irregularities in the voters’ list of Maharashtra. But the demands we made to the ECI have not been fulfilled till now. The questions remain the same even today. Now, new evidence of duplicate names in the voters’ list has emerged, raising even more serious questions,” he said.
Gandhi said the discussion is very important to protect the values of democracy and the Constitution.
In the wake of criticism from Opposition parties, including the Congress, over the duplication in EPIC, the ECI had said that this “long pending” issue will be resolved within the next three months.
