TMC vs EC battle continues: Cover-up or glitch?

In a heated episode of Capital Beat, The Federal brought together a panel to dissect the escalating dispute between the Election Commission (EC) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) over the alleged "EPIC scam".

The discussion featured Charles Nandy, BJP Minority Morcha president from West Bengal, Shubhankar Bhattacharya, TMC spokesperson, and Samir K Purkayastha, senior editor with The Federal. The debate revolved around accusations and counter-accusations regarding duplicate voter ID numbers and concerns about electoral integrity ahead of the 2026 West Bengal elections.

TMC’s allegations: An EPIC scam?

TMC has accused the EC of a major discrepancy in voter ID records, claiming that multiple voter identity cards share identical EPIC (Electoral Photo Identity Card) numbers. The party’s Rajya Sabha MP, Saket Gokhale, presented excerpts from the EC's handbook for electoral registration officers, arguing that duplicate EPIC numbers are a serious violation of election rules. TMC called this an "EPIC scam" and previously gave the EC a 24-hour ultimatum to address the issue.

TMC Supremo and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee further fuelled the controversy, alleging that the BJP has been manipulating voter lists by replacing Bengali voters with names from Haryana, Gujarat, and Punjab. She directly accused an agency called the Association for Billion Minds of orchestrating this operation to favour the BJP.

Also read: EC’s goof-up gives TMC an EPIC chance to push its ‘outsider’ narrative

EC’s response and contradictions

While the EC denied allegations of election rigging, its official clarification only intensified the debate. The EC asserted that even if the same EPIC number appears in different states, it does not affect voting, as constituencies remain separate. However, the TMC countered this, stating that EPIC numbers are supposed to be permanent, unique identifiers and such duplication opens the door to electoral fraud.

According to Bhattacharya, “The EC has contradicted its own rulebook. If the numbers are unique, there should be no possibility of duplication.”

Purkayastha called the situation a “technical fault” rather than an outright scam but questioned why the EC had failed to rectify the issue since the transition to the Aeronet system in 2021-2022.

BJP’s counterclaims: Is TMC deleting voters?

The BJP, on the other hand, dismissed the allegations, claiming that the TMC itself is involved in voter list manipulation. Nandy alleged that TMC has added 32 lakh fake voters across Bengal, particularly in minority-dominated constituencies.

“Mamata Banerjee’s government is trying to keep the names of people who have already moved out of Bengal in the voter list,” said Nandy, accusing TMC of rigging elections by stuffing the voter database. He further claimed that Mamata's government operates on three pillars: "vote bank, fake voters, and appeasement politics."

Also read: After TMC, Cong accuses EC of being ‘complicit in voter list manipulation’

The debate then took a communal turn, with Nandy alleging that Mamata was adding more Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslim voters while deliberately deleting Hindu voters from the electoral rolls.

Perception war: Who benefits from the controversy?

Purkayastha argued that both TMC and BJP are leveraging the EC's inefficiency to push their political narratives. While TMC paints itself as a victim of electoral fraud engineered by the BJP, the saffron party claims it is fighting to ensure fair elections.

The discussion also highlighted that voter list discrepancies are not new to Indian politics. The "Bangladeshi voter" narrative, as pointed out by Purkayastha, dates back to the 1978 Assam elections and has been weaponized by various parties for decades.

"If Rohingyas are really voting, who guards the borders? It’s the BSF, which reports to the Home Ministry. So, is BJP saying Amit Shah is inefficient?" questioned Purkayastha, taking a dig at the ruling party’s claims.

Also read: West Bengal: Poll panel rubbishes Mamata’s allegations of ‘electoral rolls manipulation’

A battle for narratives ahead of elections

As West Bengal heads to elections next year, both TMC and BJP are using the EPIC controversy to solidify their voter base. While the EC’s handling of the voter ID duplication issue raises serious concerns, the larger battle is not about the technical glitch but about the political mileage each party can extract from it.

Whether the "EPIC scam" proves to be a genuine electoral manipulation or a narrative-building exercise remains to be seen, but one thing is certain—this issue will dominate the political discourse in the coming weeks.

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