Tejashwi Claims His Name Missing In Draft Electoral Rolls

By Dev Raj

Patna: Bihar's Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Saturday claimed that he could not find his name in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) draft electoral roll and asked how difficult it would be for the poor, less educated and illiterate people and migrant workers to search for their names in it.

Tejashwi, the younger son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad, opened the Election Commission of India (ECI) website and keyed-in his Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number RAB2916120 before mediapersons and the result showed that data regarding it was not available.

“If this is happening to me, just imagine what would be the plight of the migrant workers from Bihar, residing in other states. I am a voter of Digha Assembly constituency, the polling booth at which I vote is at the Bihar Veterinary College, yet I am unable to find my name online. How will the millions of voters temporarily residing outside check theirs,” Tejashwi asked.

Asserting that the SIR draft electoral roll is adding to confusion that the ECI has already spread with the exercise, the RJD leader said that a Booth Level Officer (BLO) had come to his residence to get the enumeration forms filled. “I did fill up the forms and also got a photo with the BLO clicked as an evidence of it. I have come across many people whose names have been struck off the electoral rolls as part of the SIR,” he added.

As the information spread like wildfire and some television channels started relaying it, Tejashwi called Patna district magistrate Thiyagarajan SM, who by then was in the know of things and seemed baffled about his claim. “We are looking into it and trying to locate your name. It seems your EPIC number has been changed and the booth too has been changed. We are looking into the matter,” Thiyagarajan told Tejashwi, who had no idea that his EPIC had changed.

Later in the day, the ECI rejected the RJD leader’s claim and made public his listing in the SIR draft electoral roll. It was at serial number 416 with the booth mentioned as ‘near veterinary college campus’, and bore the EPIC number RAB0456228. “We got to know from a few news mediums that the name of the Leader of Oppostion is not in the SIR draft electoral roll. The Patna district administration examined it and found that his name is present in it,” the ECI said.

“At present his (Tejashwi’s) name is registered at serial number 416 of polling centre number 204, at the library building of the Bihar Animal Sciences University. Earlier his name was registered at serial number 481 of polling centre 171 at the library building of the Bihar Animal Sciences University,” the ECI said.

Incidentally, the Patna district administration also pointed out that the RJD leader had mentioned the EPIC number RAB0456228 in his affidavit while contesting the Bihar Assembly polls in 2020. The claims and ECI counter claims also gave fodder to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners to launch an attack on the Leader of Opposition.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary asserted that Tejashwi was unable to read his own name in the SIR draft roll and was levelling false charges.

“Tejashwi has stooped down to lying on SIR draft electoral roll in a bid to mislead the public. His statements about his name getting struck off the rolls is completely misleading, confusing and baseless. It defames a Constitutional body like the ECI. Apart from us the entire state is now doubting his capabilities,” Choudhary said.

Janata Dal United (JDU) spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar slammed Tejashwi for speaking false things to spread confusion among the people. “The swindler of politics has been caught in ‘magistrate checking’. Tejashwi said his name was not in the SIR draft electoral roll. It was a lie. The truth is that his name is listed there. His lies have been caught. He should apologise to the people,” Neeraj added.

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