Citing Express report on Prashant Kishor being enrolled as voter in 2 states, poll officer issues him notice

The notice, signed by the Sasaram Land Revenue Deputy Collector cum Electoral Officer, Kargahar Assembly segment, states: “According to the news published in the Kolkata-Patna edition of The Indian Express, your name is registered in the electoral roll of Bihar and the electoral roll of West Bengal.”

“According to Section 17 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, no person shall be registered in more than one constituency. In case of violation, there is a provision for imprisonment for one year or a fine or both under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. Therefore, you must present your views within three days regarding the inclusion of your name in more than one constituency,” it states.

When contacted, the West Bengal CEO, Manoj Agarwal, said, “The Bihar CEO asked for a report on his EPIC number, which I gave.”

As first reported by The Indian Express, in Bengal, his address is listed as 121 Kalighat Road, which houses the Trinamool Congress office in Bhabanipur, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s assembly constituency. Kishor had worked with the TMC as a political consultant during the 2021 Assembly polls in the state. His polling station is listed as St Helen School on B Ranishankari Lane.

In Bihar, he is registered as a voter under the Sasaram parliamentary constituency in the Kargahar assembly constituency. His polling station is Madhya Vidyalay, Konar, under the Rohtas district. Konar is Kishor’s paternal village.

While Kishor had not responded to calls and messages seeking comment, a senior member of his team had told The Indian Express that he became a voter in Bihar after the Bengal polls. He said Kishor has applied to have his Bengal voter card cancelled, but did not elaborate on the status of the application.

As per Section 17 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, “no person shall be entitled to be registered in the electoral roll for more than one constituency”. And Section 18 adds that no person shall be registered more than once in the electoral roll of the same constituency. Once registered, the elector can shift their enrolment by filling Form 8, the EC’s form for shifting residence or correcting errors.

But electors being enrolled at multiple places is by no means rare. In fact, the EC cited it as one of the reasons for its decision to conduct the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the country, starting with Bihar. “Some electors obtain registration in one place and then shift their residence and register themselves at another place without getting their names deleted from the electoral roll of the initial place of residence. This has led to an increased possibility of repeated entries in the electoral roll,” the EC had said in its June 24 order for the SIR.

The Bihar SIR exercise, which ended with the publication of the electoral roll on September 30, led to the removal of around 68.66 lakh electors, of whom 7 lakh were registered at more than one place. Officials admit that duplicates could still be on the rolls.