The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Nagaland addressed the long-standing issue of duplicate Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers in a press note issued on 8 March 2025. The press release outlined a plan to resolve the issue within the next three months through continuous electoral roll updates, in collaboration with the District Election Officer (DEO), Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), and active participation from the public and political parties.
Regarding the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers, it said that the Commission has already taken cognizance of the matter. Irrespective of an EPIC number, an elector who is linked to the electoral roll of a particular polling station can cast his vote at that polling station only and nowhere else. Sample enquiry of over 100 electors reveals that electors with duplicate EPIC numbers are genuine electors. Since the allotment of EPIC series in the year 2000 to the States/UTs, some EROs did not use the correct series. The issue of allotment of duplicate numbers due to incorrect series across States/UTs could not have been detected as the States/UTs were independently managing the electoral roll databases.
The Commission has now decided to resolve this long pending issue after detailed discussions within the technical teams and concerned CEOs in the next three months by ensuring a unique national EPIC number to the existing electors having a duplicate EPIC number and for future electors as well.