Trinamul Urges Poll Panel To Suspend EPIC-Aadhaar Linking

The Trinamul Congress formally urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday to suspend its recently proposed process of linking voter ID cards (EPICs) with Aadhaar until the concerns surrounding it are addressed.

- STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE

A memorandum signed by Derek O'Brien, TMC parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha, and other prominent TMC MPs, including Kalyan Banerjee, Dr. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Sagarika Ghose, was submitted to the ECI this morning. This follows a previous meeting between a 10-member TMC delegation and the ECI on 11 March.

"We also urge the ECI to suspend the process of linking EPICs with Aadhaar until the concerns raised by TMC in this memorandum are addressed comprehensively," stated the memorandum submitted to ECI by a four-member delegation.

The TMC has raised concerns about the voluntary nature of Aadhaar-EPIC linking. Despite the ECI's undertaking to the Supreme Court on 18 September 2023, acknowledging that Aadhaar submission is not mandatory, the party said that Form 6B used for the process does not clearly inform voters of this option nor does it provide voters an option to refuse to provide their Aadhaar details.