The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of Bihar’s Digha Assembly constituency on Sunday formally wrote to Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, seeking details of the EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) number he cited during a press conference held on Saturday, during which he claimed that his name had been removed from the draft electoral rolls published last week.
In the letter, the officer said that the number on the voter ID that Tejashwi had presented during his press conference does not appear to be an officially issued EPIC number. The officer said that the RJD leader’s name was in the electoral rolls, but under a different EPIC number.
The letter requested Tejashwi to furnish the details and the original copy of the EPIC card he referred to in his press interaction to enable a detailed inquiry.
This follows a clarification issued earlier by the Patna district administration, saying that Yadav’s name had not been removed from the rolls. Officials said that his name, which was previously listed in polling station number 171 at serial number 481, is now listed in polling station number 204 at serial number 416 — both polling stations are located in the same premises.
Election Commission sources said that Tejashwi’s EPIC number which is in the draft rolls has been consistently associated with him since at least 2015, and was used by him during the 2020 Assembly elections while filing nomination papers.
Officials also said that extensive checks of electoral databases over the last 10 years have not revealed any record of the EPIC number on the card that he presented during his press conference.
