New Delhi, March 8 -- The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced plans to replace all duplicate Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers with unique identifiers within the next three months, but reiterated that the duplication of the numbers did not mean there were fake voters.

The announcement comes amid a growing political row, most recently in Bengal where the Trinamool Congress on February 27accused the poll body of manipulating records in a way that amounted to fraud and gave an advantage to its rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The commission said it had carried out a "sample enquiry" of over 100 electors and found that those with duplicate EPIC numbers were genuine electors. "The Commission has now decide...