Prashant Kishor, founder of the Jan Suraaj Party, was on Tuesday served a notice by the district election office in Bihar’s Rohtas for reportedly having two voters ID cards, one from Bihar and another issued from adjoining State of West Bengal. An ECI official said, “Kishor’s name is reportedly registered as a voter in his home State of Bihar as well as adjoining West Bengal’s Kalighat Road.”
Hitting back at the ECI, Kishor on Tuesday said, “If I’ve broken any law, then arrest me.” Speaking to reporters in Bihar, Kishor said, “The Election Commission’s SIR drive could not intimidate the people of Bihar, their attempts to delete voters’ names have failed.” The Commission has directed Kishor to respond within three days of the notice.
According to official records, Kishor is enrolled as a voter in West Bengal at 121, Kalighat Road, the address of the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Kolkata’s Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, which is Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s seat, an election official in West Bengal said. The ECI official further said, “His polling station is listed as St Helen School on B Ranishankari Lane.” During the 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal, Kishor had worked as a political consultant for the TMC.
In case of a change of address, a person must apply for inclusion of his name in the new place after filling up Form 8, which is a declaration that he has shifted base and consents to deletion from the voters’ list at the earlier place of residence.
The notice issued by DEO, Rohtas, has cited a report in leading English daily, which pointed out the anomaly in the case of Kishor. The notice points out that “Section 31 of Representation of People Act” prohibits a person from having his name enrolled as a voter at more than one place, and that violation of the provision was “punishable with imprisonment for one year, or fine, or both”. When asked about the alleged irregularity, Jan Suraaj Party national spokesperson Kumar Saurabh Singh said, “The onus is on the Election Commission. It had launched SIR in Bihar with so much of fanfare. So many names were dropped on the ground of deletion. When they can leave room for a lapse in case of a well-known personality like Prashant Kishor, one can imagine the diligence of the EC elsewhere.”
He, however, evaded a direct reply to a pointed query as to whether Kishor had applied for deletion of his name from the voters’ list in West Bengal, prior to applying for inclusion in the electoral roll of Bihar.
Meanwhile, the ruling NDA as well as the Opposition INDIA bloc in Bihar, latched on to the opportunity.