UP Election Office Orders Removal of Duplicate Voter IDs After Multiple Form Submissions

Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa has ordered officials to identify and remove duplicate voter cards caused by people submitting multiple forms. The issue came to light during an exchange on the social media platform X with fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, who flagged a case of a voter receiving multiple Electors Photo Identity Cards after submitting repeated applications when their name was missing from the draft roll. While disputing Zubair's specific account, the UP CEO office acknowledged that submitting multiple forms can lead to duplicate cards. The office stated that routine de-duplication work happens through the ECINET platform and that efforts are ongoing to catch repeated applications at the time they are submitted.

Action Plan

CEO Navdeep Rinwa held a virtual meeting on Monday with district election officials and electoral registration officers to prepare for a special campaign day on October 24. Rinwa directed officials to use Booth Level Officers to find voters who submitted more than one application during the Special Intensive Revision. Field officers must resolve these cases quickly by having voters fill out Form-7 according to established rules.

Context

Electoral rolls require careful maintenance to ensure every eligible citizen has a single, valid vote while preventing fraud. Election commissions regularly update voter lists through special campaigns and verification drives to keep rolls clean before elections take place.