Amid the ongoing election campaigning in Bihar, the Election Commission of India on Tuesday issued notice to Jan Suraaj Party chief Prashant Kishor, after the poll body found out that his name is enrolled as voter in two states, Bihar and West Bengal.
The notice, issued by the Returning Officer of the Kargahar Assembly Constituency (in Sasaram, Rohtas district, Bihar), claimed that Prashant Kishor registered voter in Kargahar under polling booth number 621, with EPIC (voter ID) number 1013123718.
Citing a news report in an English daily, EC said that Kishor's name also appeares in the electoral roll of the Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency in West Bengal, with polling station at St Helen School, B Ranishankari Lane.
According to Section 17 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, an individual is prohibited from being registered as a voter in multiple constituencies. The notice cautions that breaching this rule could result in penalties outlined in Section 31 of the Act, which may include imprisonment for up to one year, a monetary fine, or both.
Kishor has been given a three-day deadline to provide an explanation for why his name appears on the electoral rolls of two different states.
This development follows the Election Commission's recent completion of its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral rolls, a process designed to eliminate duplicate and ineligible registrations ahead of the state elections. The updated voter list, released earlier this month, shows more than 7.4 crore registered voters, including approximately 14 lakh first-time voters, as per EC records.
