EPICs found strewn in Birbhum field

A large number of Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) were found scattered in a field in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Sunday, while over a hundred Aadhaar cards and other documents were recovered from a TMC office in Bidhannagar, triggering political sparring and prompting police investigations in both incidents.

The first incident came to light in the Kirnahar area of Birbhum’s Nanoor block, where locals spotted the voter cards lying across a field on Sunday morning. The field is located adjacent to the residence of a former Booth Level Officer (BLO), triggering suspicion and commotion in the area.

Police reached the spot after being informed and began an investigation.

According to local sources, the former BLO, Hiranyaprabha Mete Maji, who earlier served in Purba Bardhaman district’s Ketugram block, was questioned by police over the matter. She had reportedly worked as a BLO from 2012 till 2025 before being removed in accordance with administrative norms.

Maji claimed that during her tenure, she used to collect old voter cards while distributing new ones, but never deposited the discarded cards with the block office. Instead, she kept them in her possession.

“My house was undergoing renovation work, and I had stored the papers in a sack behind the house. Someone may have thrown them out into the open area,” she told the people, according to sources.

In a separate incident in Bidhannagar’s Ward No. 36 in Basanti Devi Colony, police recovered more than a hundred Aadhaar cards along with PAN cards and land-related documents from a local TMC party office on Sunday morning.

The recovery triggered a political row, with BJP leaders alleging that the office had long been used for illegal activities and that residents’ identity documents had been kept there for questionable purposes.

Local BJP leaders claimed they had received complaints for a long time that Aadhaar cards of residents were being stored in the office. They said the premises had been locked by BJP workers after May 4, the day of the announcement of assembly poll results, and the documents came to light after it was reopened.

Some local residents alleged that several people in the area were earlier prevented from casting votes and their identity documents were retained at the party office.

Police from Bidhannagar South police station reached the spot and seized the documents for investigation.

No immediate reaction was available from the local TMC leadership on the allegations.