Patna, India — The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a notice to Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly, firmly refuting his claim that his name was missing from the draft electoral rolls. The ECI’s action comes after Yadav, during a press conference on Saturday, alleged that he was not included in the voter list and displayed a voter ID card to support his claim.
The ECI has stated that the voter ID card shown by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader is not officially issued. According to a letter shared by the Patna district administration, a preliminary investigation found that the EPIC number (RAB2916120) on the card Yadav presented does not appear to be an officially issued number. The ECI has requested that Yadav provide details and the original copy of the card for a thorough investigation.
The poll body also factually contradicted Yadav’s central allegation, confirming that his name is, in fact, on the draft electoral rolls. The ECI revealed that his name is listed at Serial No. 416 of Polling Station No. 204, located at the library of Patna’s Bihar Animal Sciences University, with the valid EPIC number RAB0456228. This is the same EPIC number that Yadav used to file his nomination papers in the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections.
During his press conference on Saturday, Yadav had been critical of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar. He had connected his phone to a large screen and demonstrated an online search using the EPIC number from the card he displayed, which showed “no records found.” This led him to declare that he was disqualified from contesting elections.
The ECI had initially responded to Yadav’s claims on Saturday, calling them “baseless” and providing an extract of the draft rolls that clearly showed his name. The commission has since escalated the matter by issuing a formal notice, requesting clarification on the unofficial voter ID card.