Election Commission issues notice to Bihar deputy CM for possessing two EPIC numbers
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader was directed to reply to the notice by Thursday.
This came hours after Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav alleged that Sinha held two EPIC numbers. Yadav said that one of the numbers allegedly linked to Sinha was in the Lakhi Sarai Assembly seat, the other was in the Bankipur constituency.
'In one place, his age is 57 years, while in the other, it is 60 years,' said the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
Yadav claimed that Sinha had filled two enumeration forms in the two Assembly seats.
Responding to Yadav's claims, Sinha said that he had applied earlier for his name to be removed from Bankipur, but it had not been deleted. He presented documents showing that he had applied for his name to be deleted from the voter roll in Bankipur.
'It is sad that a person sitting on a constitutional post tarnishes politics with his language; this does not befit him,' Sinha said, referring to Yadav.
Later on Sunday, the electoral registration officer of the Bankipur constituency issued a notice to Sinha, The Indian Express reported.
The officer said that the BJP leader's name was found in both seats – Lakhi Sarai and Bankipur – with different EPIC numbers in the draft electoral roll released on August 1 as part of the special intensive revision exercise the Election Commission is conducting.
'Along with this, your name was found mentioned at both places even before the special intensive revision,' the notice said.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Yadav also claimed that the entire process pertaining to the voter roll revision in Bihar was 'fake', The Hindu reported. He said that the Election Commission should not become a tool for helping the ruling BJP.
'If Mr Sinha is found guilty, he should resign and if EC is guilty, the EC commissioner should apologise,' he said.
Yadav's allegations came a week after he claimed in a press conference that his name was missing from the draft electoral roll released by the poll panel on August 1.
However, electoral authorities in Patna's Digha Assembly constituency said that his claim was baseless and showed the extract of the draft roll where his name was present. The electoral registration officer of Digha said that the voter ID card that Yadav showed during the press conference appeared to be fake.
The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.
As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list needed to submit proof of eligibility to vote.
The draft roll was published on August 1 as part of the special revision ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls expected to take place in October or November. It showed that more than 65 lakh names had been deleted from the list.
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