The Election Commission has asked Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav to provide details of the voter ID card he displayed at a press conference to back his claim that his name was missing from the electoral roll, stating that the EPIC number in question does not appear to have been officially issued.
In a notice sent to Yadav, the Commission said that according to its preliminary investigation, EPIC number RAB2916120, which Yadav produced before the media, “does not appear to be officially issued”.
The notice read, “Therefore, you are requested to kindly provide the details of the mentioned EPIC card (along with the original copy of the card) mentioned by you in the press conference held on 02.08.2025 to the undersigned, so that it can be thoroughly investigated.”
The poll body has strongly refuted Yadav’s allegation that his name is not on the voter list, saying its records show he is registered at serial number 416 of polling station number 204, located at the Library Building of Bihar Animal Science University. His valid EPIC number, the Commission said, is RAB0456228.
Yadav’s claim came just a day after the Commission released the draft electoral rolls following the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, which has sparked political debate.
At the press conference, Yadav alleged that the Commission had removed 65 lakh voters, attributing the removal to deaths and migration.
“But in the list provided to us by the Election Commission, they have cleverly not given the address of any voter, no booth number, and no EPIC number, so that we cannot find out whose names have been removed from the voter list,” Yadav said as he attempted to verify his own details using the EPIC number he cited. He claimed the details were not available on the Commission’s online portal.
Meanwhile, sources within the Election Commission have hinted at the possibility of the EPIC number shown by Yadav being fake.
They have also revealed that CPI(ML) MP Sudama Prasad, whose party is a petitioner in the Supreme Court against the SIR, has been found with two EPIC numbers according to records shared by officials.
Following this incident, BJP was quick to cash-in. Taking a jibe and alleging, that Tejashwi Yadav has committed a crime by keeping two voter IDs, noting that his Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number he cited at a presser was different from the one he officially carries.
A day after the Elections Commission refuted his claim that his name was missing from the draft electoral rolls in Bihar, the BJP sharpened its attack on the opposition leader.
"The Congress and RJD have been thoroughly exposed... Did you (Yadav) lie under oath? Did you present wrong facts to the Election Commission," BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra asked at a press conference.
Patra noted that the voter ID the RJD leader had submitted in his 2020 poll affidavit was different from the one he had mentioned on Saturday to claim that his name was missing from the electoral rolls prepared after the contentious Special Intensive Revision exercise.
He accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his ally Yadav of resorting to lies to weaken and insult constitutional institutions like the Election Commission and to dent India's stature.
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