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Prashant Kishor blames Election Commission for his voter list duplication in Bihar and West Bengal and challenges EC to arrest him if at fault.
Jan Suraaj Party chief Prashant Kishor (Image: PTI/File)
Political strategist-turned politician Prashant Kishor on Tuesday responded to the row over the duplication of his name in voter lists of Bihar and West Bengal, saying that the duplication occurred due to the Election Commission’s negligence, not his own.
He asked the poll body why his name was not deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of Bihar’s voters’ list if there was any duplication and challenged the poll body to arrest him if it was his fault.
“I am a voter from the Kargahar Assembly constituency since 2019. For two years, when I was in Kolkata, I had made a voter ID card there. Since 2021, my voter ID has been for the Kargahar Assembly constituency. If the ECI is saying that my name is enrolled as an elector in other places as well, then why are they troubling everyone by carrying out the SIR? Why is the Election Commission sending a notice? If it’s my fault, arrest me,” Kishor said as quoted by news agency ANI.
#WATCH | Araria, Bihar | Jan Suraaj Founder Prashant Kishor says, “I am a voter from the Kargahar Assembly constituency since 2019. For two years, when I was in Kolkata, I had made a voter ID card there. Since 2021, my voter ID has been for the Kargahar Assembly constituency. If… https://t.co/dtg5QOoKH1 pic.twitter.com/XE464wFfWT— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2025
His response came hours after the Election Commission served a notice to Jan Suraaj chief after his name was found in the voter lists of both Bihar and West Bengal ahead of Bihar assembly polls.
He has been asked to submit his response within three days.
According to the notice issued by the Returning Officer of the Kargahar Assembly Constituency (in Sasaram, Rohtas district, Bihar), Kishor is listed as a voter in Part 367 (Middle School, Konar, North Section) in Kargahar under polling booth number 621, with EPIC (voter ID) number 1013123718.
He is allegedly also enrolled in West Bengal at 121, Kalighat Road — the address of the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Kolkata’s Bhabanipur constituency, which is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s seat. “His polling station is listed as St. Helen School on B Ranishankari Lane,” news agency PTI reported, citing an election official.
The EC’s notice cited Section 17 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which prohibits an individual from being registered as a voter in more than one constituency. Officials also referred to Section 18, which bars multiple entries within the same constituency.
Under the law, a person changing residence must apply for inclusion in the new constituency through Form 8, declaring that their name be deleted from the previous electoral roll.
The development comes weeks after the Election Commission completed its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across Bihar, aimed at removing duplicate and ineligible entries before the state elections. The SIR, which started in Bihar, was completed with the publication of updated rolls on September 30, resulting in the removal of about 68.66 lakh entries, including roughly seven lakh cases of voters registered in multiple places.
The EC has acknowledged that duplication of voter entries is a recurring issue and cited it as one reason for launching the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls throughout the country.
(With inputs from agencies)
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben…Read More
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben… Read More
Araria, India, India
October 28, 2025, 22:10 IST
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