Patna/Kolkata, Oct. 28 -- Jan Suraaj Party founder and former political strategist Prashant Kishor has been served a notice by the district election office in Bihar's Rohtas district over allegations of being registered as a voter in both Bihar and West Bengal. The notice, issued from Sasaram, asks Kishor to respond within three days.
According to official records, Kishor is registered as a voter in Kargahar Assembly segment of Rohtas district in Bihar. At the same time, he is also enrolled in West Bengal's Bhabanipur constituency at 121, Kalighat Road - the address of the Trinamool Congress headquarters - where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is the sitting MLA. His polling booth there is listed as St Helen School on B Ranishankari Lane, an election official in Kolkata said.
The Rohtas DEO's notice cites a report in a leading English daily that highlighted the anomaly and referred to Section 31 of the Representation of People Act, which prohibits multiple voter registrations. Violation of this provision is punishable with imprisonment up to one year, a fine, or both.
Reacting to the development, Kishor, who is currently campaigning in Araria district, said, "I have been a voter in Kargahar since 2019. Since I lived in Kolkata for a couple of years, I got enrolled as a voter there as well. The Election Commission has boasted about purifying the electoral rolls in Bihar through SIR. Why did it not delete my name from one of the places?" He accused the EC of acting under political pressure and added, "The Election Commission cannot bully me through its notice. Nor can the BJP, which is watching its leaders cower after their wrongdoings were exposed by me."
The controversy has drawn sharp reactions from across the political spectrum. JD(U) spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar said, "It is amusing that Kishor, who hails from Bihar and runs his establishments in Delhi, got registered as a voter in West Bengal. We suspect he struck a deal with Mamata Banerjee to secure a Rajya Sabha berth after the 2021 polls." He claimed Banerjee later distanced herself, prompting Kishor's exit from political consultancy. State BJP spokesperson Neeraj Kumar called the issue "no minor oversight, but a heinous crime" and demanded a "rigorous investigation" into what he described as a "vile conspiracy with the TMC to undermine Bihar elections." RJD's Mrityunjay Tiwari said the case "exposes the flaws in the so-called SIR exercise" and alleged Kishor may be "working secretly for the BJP-led coalition." The Election Commission has acknowledged that duplicate voter entries remain a recurring problem. Its nationwide special intensive revision (SIR), completed in Bihar on September 30, led to the deletion of about 68.66 lakh entries, including nearly seven lakh cases of multiple registrations.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.