NEW DELHI: A day after top RJD functionary Tejashwi Prasad Yadav claimed that a search of Bihar’s draft electoral roll with his EPIC No. RAB2916120 had found his name missing, only to be “fact-checked” by the Election Commission that his name and actual EPIC No. RAB0456228 were very much included in the voter list, the poll panel on Sunday said it had failed to find any EPIC No. RAB2916120 issued by its authorised officers in its records.On Sunday, the electoral registration officer (ERO) concerned wrote to Tejashwi, saying that upon preliminary investigation, it appears that EPIC No. RAB2916120 flashed by him at a press conference in Patna on Saturday was not officially issued. The ERO asked the RJD scion to share the the EPIC card he cited at the press conference in original for a “thorough investigation”.If found to be fake, there may be legal consequences, including an FIR.Sources told TOI that Tejashwi has been using EPIC No. RAB0456228 issued to him on March 18, 2014, which also appears in the latest draft electoral roll. It was this valid EPIC No. that he cited in his nomination papers/affidavit filed during the 2015 and 2020 assembly polls in Bihar.‘EPIC cited by Tejashwi not used in 10 yrs’EPIC No. RAB2916120, which Tejashwi Yadav cited as ‘missing’ on Saturday, has not been used by him, at least for the past 10 years, said an EC source.In another case, EC has found that CPI(ML) Liberation MP Sudama Prasad’s wife Shobha Devi was registered as an elector from two different assembly constituencies (ACs) in Arrah, Bihar. The Left party is one of petitioners in the special intensive revision (SIR) case being heard by Supreme Court.Devi, as per documents seen by TOI, was registered with EPIC No. RGX3264140 at Lavarish Seva Kendra polling station in Arrah AC and under EPIC No. WVA0308544 at Samudayik Bhawan polling station in Agiaon AC. Her age cited in the two documents is several years apart. A check run by the ERO had found that both EPIC cards were indeed issued to the same person but her name was struck off the roll in one of the two places during as part of the SIR exercise.
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