Uttar Pradesh Poll Body Acknowledges Duplicate Voter ID Generation Risk

The Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh acknowledged on Tuesday that the voter registration system is susceptible to duplicate ID generation, a development that has prompted the electoral body to take corrective action.

Officials have been instructed to remove duplicate voter identifications from the electoral rolls. The admission comes amid concerns about the integrity of voter databases across the state, which has a voting population exceeding 100 million.

The electoral body stated that de-duplication exercises are conducted periodically through the ECINET platform, a centralised system designed to manage electoral data. The CEO indicated that simultaneous efforts are underway to strengthen the application submission stage to prevent duplicate registrations from being lodged in the first instance.

The move reflects the Election Commission's ongoing efforts to maintain accurate voter rolls and prevent electoral malpractices. Election officials across the state have been tasked with identifying records flagged by the system as potential duplicates and removing them from active voter databases.

The disclosure underscores challenges faced by electoral authorities in maintaining data integrity across India's vast and diverse electorate, particularly in large states like Uttar Pradesh.