Accusing election officials of deflecting blame, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday said the notice issued to him over two EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) numbers was an attempt to hold him accountable for a lapse committed by the authorities themselves.
The leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly told mediapersons that he had received a notice from the Patna district administration, not the Election Commission of India. He maintained that a detailed and “good reply” was being prepared, one that would leave officials with “nothing to say”.
“They are trying to fault me for their own mistake. Whose lapse is it if two EPIC numbers have been issued in my name? After all, I have been casting my vote from only one place,” said Yadav, speaking at Patna airport before departing for Delhi to attend the INDIA bloc’s coordination meeting.
The controversy follows Yadav’s online search in the draft electoral rolls last week, which yielded “no records found” against his EPIC number. He had then raised strong doubts over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, suggesting it was being manipulated to benefit the ruling NDA in Bihar ahead of assembly polls.
Claiming that several senior bureaucrats and public figures also found their names missing from the draft rolls, the RJD leader questioned the efficacy and transparency of the exercise, calling it politically motivated.
The district administration swiftly rebutted the claim, releasing a screenshot from the draft rolls showing names and photographs of Tejashwi Yadav and his father Lalu Prasad, the RJD national president.
Nevertheless, Yadav doubled down on his criticism. “They are changing my EPIC number,” he alleged. Meanwhile, NDA leaders demanded legal action against Yadav for possessing two voter IDs--an offence under electoral laws.
The Patna District Magistrate later clarified that the EPIC number in official records matched the one Yadav had submitted in his 2020 election affidavit. Following this, the sub-divisional magistrate of Patna (Sadar)--also the Electoral Registration Officer for the Digha assembly seat--sent a letter asking Yadav to submit the allegedly unauthorised voter ID for investigation.
On the sidelines of the electoral row, Yadav addressed wider national concerns, including the silence of the Modi government over the tariff hike imposed by the Trump administration on Indian exports.
“Donald Trump has unleashed a tariff offensive against the country, and the Narendra Modi government is maintaining a deafening silence,” said Yadav.
He also dismissed suggestions that the NDA had gained ground by holding a parliamentary party meeting earlier this week. “Seat-sharing is not something that is finalised inside the Parliament House,” he remarked.
Reacting to former JD(U) MLA Anant Singh’s provocative remark that he would make Yadav “use his deposit” in a head-to-head contest, the RJD leader said with a smirk, “Our party spokesperson Bantu Singh is the right man to answer such a boast.”
Anant Singh, a controversial figure acquitted recently by the Patna High Court, has expressed intent to contest the upcoming polls, potentially on a JD(U) ticket. His wife, Neelam Devi, who contested and won on an RJD ticket in 2020 after his disqualification, switched allegiance to the NDA following the realignment of Nitish Kumar's alliance.
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