Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC)

Detects Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) patterns. This pattern is based on a Microsoft Purview built-in sensitive information type. Users already running Purview may prefer to enable the built-in SIT directly, or use this version as a starting point for customisation.

Type: regex
Engine: universal
Confidence: medium
Confidence justification: Medium confidence: pattern has structural constraints but corroborative keywords are recommended to reduce false positive rates. Added context gating and exclusion rules improve precision and reduce incidental matches.
Detection quality: Verified
Jurisdictions: in
Regulations: DPDPA, IT Act 2000 (India)
Frameworks: ISO 27001, ISO 27701
Data categories: pii, government-id
Scope: narrow
Risk rating: 9
Platform compatibility: Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Compatible, Netskope: Compatible

Pattern

\b[A-Z]{3}\d{7}\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

voter ID, EPIC, electoral, election commission, ID number, identification, ID card, license, permit, registration, certificate, field, column, row, entry, record, value, form, register, database (+20 more)

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

ABC1234567 — Indian voter ID format
XYZ9876543 — Another voter ID format
MNO4567890 — Valid voter ID number

Should not match

AB1234567 — Only two letters
ABCD123456 — Four letters instead of three
template example placeholder record identifier — Template/sample context should be excluded even when anchor words are present

Known false positives

Three uppercase letters followed by seven digits may match airline booking references, product codes, or tracking numbers. Mitigation: Require corroborative evidence keywords such as "voter ID", "EPIC", or "election commission" within the proximity window.
In multiple languages, similar terminology used in formal or administrative contexts (education, professional documentation) that does not constitute sensitive data collection. Mitigation: Layer with additional contextual signals such as structured identifiers, form fields, or database column headers to distinguish sensitive records from general references.

References

India Voter Id Card entity definition - Microsoft Learn