NEW DELHI: Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday alleged that his name was missing in the voter list despite filing the enumeration form under the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise launched by the Election Commission of India (ECI) ahead of state assembly polls.
Addressing a press conference in Patna, Yadav searched for his name in the voter list in the official mobile application of the poll panel.
“My name is not there in the electoral roll. How will I contest the elections?” Yadav asked.
The RJD leader further alleged that around 20 to 30 thousand names have been removed from each assembly constituency during the SIR exercise.
“A total of around 65 lakh, meaning about 8.5% of voters’ names, have been removed from the list. Whenever the Election Commission issued an advertisement, it used to mention that so many people have shifted, so many people are deceased, and so many people had duplicate names,” he said.
However, the ECI has refuted his claim and said that the RJD leader’s name is there in the draft voter list. The poll body also shared the draft voter list which shows Yadav’s name.
As per the ECI, Yadav’s name appeared with serial number 416, house number 10 and EPIC number RABO456228. The commission further stated that Tejashwi Yadav might have used an old EPIC number in the mobile application and that could be the reason his name didn’t show in the list.
The poll panel also answered a set of questions Tejashwi asked regarding the ongoing SIR exercise, saying claims and objections can be filed between August 1 and September 1. The ECI suggested that Yadav must ask the 47,506 BLAs of his part to file claims and objections if they find any eligible name are left out or ineligible voters have been included in the electoral rolls.
The ECI also stated that no BLA from any political party, including the RJD, has submitted a single case to BLOs during the last 24 hours. It also asked the RJD leader why he is still making baseless allegations that his name is not there in the voter list.
Agencies