EC sources say inquiries on to verify authenticity of Tejashwi's second voter card; suspect forgery

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12 hours ago

While asserting that his name figures in the draft at serial number 416, officials said even if he still had any grievance, he should have followed the legal procedure laid down.
To prove that his name was not on the draft rolls, Yadav had entered a voter identity card number, which showed no records.
New Delhi, Aug 2 (PTI) The Election Commission on Saturday dubbed as 'baseless' claims of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav that his name was missing from the draft electoral rolls of Bihar as poll body sources said inquiries were on to understand the 'reality' behind the second voter card.
Meanwhile, the EC sources said that the RJD leader used the electoral roll with EPIC no. RAB0456228 for filling his nomination papers on affidavit in 2020.
'He was having this voter ID card number even in the electoral roll in 2015. His name with this voter card number exists in the draft electoral rolls too,' an official pointed out.
The other voter card with the number — RAB2916120 — has been found to be non-existent, and records from the last more than 10 years have been checked, the sources said.
They said no records have been found for the second card number 'yet'.
'It is highly likely that the second card was never made through an official channel. Further inquiries are on to understand the reality of the second voter card number… whether it is a forged document,' the official cited above said.
Yadav on Saturday claimed his name was missing in the draft electoral rolls published by the EC as part of the special intensive revision in Bihar, ahead of the assembly polls.
At a press conference, Yadav, a former deputy chief minister, connected his phone to a big screen and tried to search his own EPIC number, which threw up the result 'no records found'.
The RJD leader claimed he was not provided with any receipt by the booth-level officer who came to his house with an enumeration form.
Hitting back, the poll authority said pure electoral rolls are the foundation of any democracy.
Under the special intensive revision, the period of claims and objections is for a full month, from August 1 to September 1.
'He should ask the 47,506 booth-level agents of his party to file claims and objections if they find that the name of any eligible is left out or if the name of any ineligible voter has been included,' the EC said.
It pointed out that no booth-level agent (BLA) of any political party, including the RJD, has submitted a single case to the booth-level officers for inclusion or deletion during the past 24 hours.
'All BLAs have agreed to go through the booth-wise draft lists given to them on August 1 carefully. The EC is not able to understand why he is continuing to make baseless allegations that his name is not there,' the EC said. PTI NAB RHL
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