As Bihar gears up for the upcoming Assembly elections in 2025, controversy surrounds the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll. Critics have raised concerns about the process, citing potential issues such as the inclusion of deceased individuals and the exclusion of living citizens. Tejashwi Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) CM candidate and son of party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, has claimed his name is missing from the draft voter list, despite submitting an enumeration form. He questioned how he would be able to participate in the elections. The Janata Dal (United) responded, accusing Yadav of misleading the public on the issue.
Addressing a press conference in Patna, Yadav stated that he had completed the enumeration form during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. He expressed his surprise at the absence of his name and raised concerns about how he could contest the elections. He also mentioned that even after entering his EPIC (Elector’s Photo Identification Card) number, his information was not found in the system.
The Patna district administration immediately refuted Yadav’s claims, clarifying that his name is indeed registered in the voter list, but his polling station and serial number have been changed. Yadav responded by questioning the scale of such changes, suggesting a conspiracy to remove people’s names from the voter list.
JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar labeled Yadav a ‘political fraud,’ accusing him of spreading misinformation. The Election Commission (ECI) swiftly contradicted Yadav’s statement, deeming it ‘false and factually incorrect,’ and confirmed his name’s presence in the draft electoral roll. With the draft electoral roll recently released, and with a minority of applicants having submitted the required documentation, the political atmosphere in Bihar is becoming increasingly tense.
