‘This means he had two EPIC nos’: BJP on Tejashwi Yadav’s ‘missing name’ claim; asks did he have two voter IDs? | India News

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday hinted at a large-scale electoral roll tampering conspiracy allegedly led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar, ahead of the assembly election scheduled for the end of the year.A day after an RJD leader claimed that his name was omitted from the voter list following the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the BJP accused the former deputy chief minister and RJD workers of possessing multiple voter ID cards — a criminal offence.“He cried that his name was not there in the electoral roll, so could he take part in the elections in Bihar?… After that, the EC and Patna DM revealed the truth. They said that Tejashwi Yadav‘s name and EPIC number are present, and his name has not been cut from the electoral roll published after the SIR,” BJP leader Sambit Patra said at a press conference.“The EC further said that the EPIC number, which placed his name in the electoral roll at serial number 416, is the same as the one he used in his nomination papers during the 2020 elections. This means he had two EPIC numbers. Did he have two voter IDs?” he asked.Patra also claimed that the poll body’s exercise to sanitize the electoral roll in the state has “exposed the whole game” of the RJD.“Sarvochh neta ke hain 2 EPIC number, to karyakarta ka haal kya hoga. Is this why they are afraid of SIR?” he remarked.“Imagine these Congress and RJD leaders and their workers, who were used to capturing booths and winning on the basis of hooliganism—their whole game has been exposed,” Patra added.Earlier on Saturday, Tejashwi Yadav had claimed that his name had vanished from Bihar’s voter list, despite holding a valid EPIC number.Displaying the “no records found” message on a large screen during a press conference, the former deputy CM alleged a larger conspiracy by the Election Commission to erase voters ahead of the assembly polls.However, responding to the allegations, the Election Commission of India stated that Tejashwi Yadav’s name is present in the draft voter list. The Commission also released a copy of the list containing his name to counter his claim.Meanwhile, a probe is on to ascertain if his second EPIC number is forged, Election Commission of India (ECI) sources told news agency ANI.