Stonewalled by the ruling BJP for a discussion on duplicate electoral photo identity cards on the floor of the Rajya Sabha, the Trinamool doubled down on its attack on the Narendra Modi government, asking what the government was trying to hide, following a walk out from the upper House.
“Today the leader of Opposition (Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge) was on his feet demanding a discussion on EPICs. But it was again not allowed. Therefore the entire opposition was forced to walk out of the Rajya Sabha on this issue of repeated denial by treasury benches. What is the BJP trying to hide? What does the BJP and Modi government have to hide that they do not want a discussion on EPICs?” asked Sagarika Ghose, the Trinamool’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha.
The Trinamool Congress and other opposition parties have been demanding a discussion on the presence of multiple photo identity cards issued by the Election Commission (EC) to the voters in different states bearing the same alphanumeric code.
On Monday, when the Parliament convened after a four-day break, the Trinamool’s leader in the Rajya Sabha had posed a question for the ruling BJP.
“Parliament gets back to work after a four day break. A constructive Opposition wants to debate an issue that is at the core of democracy. Is the Government ready?” asked O’Brien on his ‘X’ handle.
Since the Budget session resumed last Monday, the Trinamool has been on the forefront on raising the issue of the duplicate identity cards for voters, which could have an impact in next year’s Assembly polls scheduled in Bengal.
“All opposition parties have been carrying out a sustained campaign over the issue of duplicate EPICs. Duplicate EPICs lead to manipulation of electoral rolls, and without verified electoral rolls there can be no electoral democracy, there can be no free and fair polls,” Ghose said.
A Trinamool delegation had met the EC officials at Nirvachan Sadan Tuesday with their demand for removal of duplicate identity cards, which the central poll panel has claimed was a legacy issue and promised to clean it up in three months.
“We have been carrying out a sustained campaign on this over the last few weeks. We have met the Election Commission. The Election Commission has given out three press releases and now says it is going to meet the UIDAI authority to investigate how Adhaar card can be seeded with EPICs to eradicate duplicate EPICs. This is a massive issue,” said Ghose. “The entire nation is agitated, all citizens are agitated how can there be duplicate EPICs in electoral rolls it is a shocking and alarming and startling thing. We have been repeatedly giving notices in the House seeking discussion and debate and this has been repeatedly denied.”