The Trinamul Congress on Monday set a 24-hour deadline for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to “accept” the error it had “admitted” on duplication of voter ID numbers and threatened to issue documents substantiating the party’s charge should the poll panel fail to do so.

The TMC sought to convery that it wanted the ECI to accept that the same EPIC numbers would cause bogus voting.

At a news conference in New Delhi, Trinamool’s leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien called it an “epic scam”, playing on the acronym of the electoral photo identity card (EPIC) issued by the ECI.

“Limited appreciation for the ECI. I say limited because the ECI is admitting the error, but not accepting it,” said O’Brien, who was flanked by his Rajya Sabha colleague Sagarika Ghose and Bardhaman-Durgapur MP Kirti Azad.

On Sunday, Nirvachan Sadan had admitted the truth of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s allegation about multiple voters in different parts of India having photo I-cards with the same number. However, the poll panel clarified it did not create the possibility of bogus voting.

On Thursday, Mamata had read out the names of voters from Bengal and other states who she said had the same EPIC numbers. She alleged that the BJP was manipulating the electoral roll in collusion with the ECI.

“Within the next 24 hours, we humbly ask the ECI to also accept its error. If not, we will share a document at 9am (on Tuesday),” said O’Brien, adding that the ECI had March-May to ensure a thorough cleanse of the electoral roll.

Ghose and Azad, along with O’Brien, displayed for journalists in the national capital lists — brandished by Mamata on Thursday — with details of multiple cards with the same EPIC numbers and alleged most of them were from BJP-ruled states.

“We want only electors, residents of a state to be able to vote in that state. Only Bengal voters should get to vote in Bengal.... These people will be surreptitiously brought in from other states to vote (in Bengal). That is unacceptable,” said O’Brien.

Nirvachan Sadan on Sunday asserted that while the Epic numbers of some “may be identical”, other details — from the name to the Assembly constituency and the polling booth — would be different.

Trinamul has launched a door-to-door survey to locate “ghost voters”. Mamata
directed Trinamul state president Subrata Bakshi to head a committee for the physical verification.

The 36-member committee will hold its first assessment meeting at Trinamool Bhavan on Thursday to review the ground reports. The word for the meeting was sent out by state TMC vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar.

On Thursday, a warning came from the chief minister.

“I exposed this fraud here, now the responsibility rests with you (the people). I appeal to the people to check the voter lists themselves as well. Or else, they might use the NRC-CAA tools,” she said.

“This cat is out of the bag now. The BJP is manipulating electoral rolls with the blessings of the Election Commission…. They are doing adharma in the name of dharma,” added Mamata, going on to wonder aloud why state officials feared the “threats” of punitive action and did Nirvachan Sadan’s bidding during electioneering.

Mamata also averred that her party would indubitably secure — even better — the target of winning 215 in the 294-seat Bengal Assembly, stressing the need for a significant reduction of the BJP tally (77 in 2021, down to 66 now). Additionally, she assured the people that the BJP would lose power at the Centre in another two to four years.

The BJP, predictably, kept doubling down on the denial mode, defending the honour of the commission. The party’s chief Bengal spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya on Monday said Trinamool was saying those things as it was “scared and sure” of losing power next year.

“All such things are being said as Trinamool will no longer be able to manipulate the mass mandate through terror, intimidation, and rigging of the election,” claimed Bhattacharya.