Prashant Kishor Faces Election Commission Notice Over Dual Voter Registration: What's Next?

Prashant Kishor's Voter Registration Controversy

Patna/Kolkata: Prashant Kishor, the founder of the Jan Suraaj Party, has received a notice regarding his voter registration in both Bihar and West Bengal. Kishor maintains that the responsibility lies with the Election Commission (EC), which claims to have cleaned up the electoral rolls in Bihar.

The notice was issued by the district election office in Rohtas, Bihar, where Kishor is registered in the Kargahar assembly segment. He has been given three days to respond.

Official records indicate that Kishor is also registered as a voter at 121 Kalighat Road in West Bengal, the location of the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Kolkata's Bhabanipur assembly constituency, which is represented by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

His polling station is identified as St Helen School on B Ranishankari Lane.

Kishor served as a political consultant for the TMC during the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal.

If a voter changes their address, they must fill out Form 8 to apply for inclusion in the new location and consent to the removal of their name from the previous voter list.

The notice from the DEO in Rohtas references a report from a prominent English newspaper that highlighted the discrepancies in Kishor's voter registration.

It cites 'Section 31 of the Representation of People Act,' which prohibits individuals from being registered as voters in more than one location, with violations punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine, or both.

Despite being away in Araria for an assembly campaign, Kishor remained defiant.

He stated, 'I have been a voter in Kargahar since 2019. I registered in Kolkata while living there. The EC has boasted about purifying the electoral rolls in Bihar; why didn't they remove my name from one of the locations?'

Kishor indirectly accused the EC of acting under the influence of the ruling BJP, asserting, 'The Election Commission cannot intimidate me with its notice, nor can the BJP, which is anxious after I exposed their wrongdoings.'

Both the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc in Bihar have seized upon this situation, with Kishor's entry into politics causing unease for both sides.

Neeraj Kumar, a spokesperson for JD(U), expressed skepticism about Kishor's decision to register as a voter in West Bengal, questioning the necessity of being a voter in the state where one provides consultancy services.

Kumar suggested that Kishor may have attempted to negotiate a deal with Banerjee for a Rajya Sabha seat after her 2021 victory, but was rebuffed, leading to his withdrawal from consultancy.

After Banerjee's significant win, Kishor announced his retirement from political consultancy, only to later launch the 'Baat Bihar Ki' campaign, which was halted due to an Intellectual Property Rights case.

In 2022, he embarked on a 3,500-km padayatra named 'Jan Suraaj,' culminating in the establishment of his party.

State BJP spokesperson Neeraj Kumar condemned Kishor's actions as a serious offense, suggesting he was involved in a conspiracy with the TMC to undermine Bihar's elections.

Kumar called for an immediate investigation by the Election Commission into Kishor's activities, labeling him a 'political broker' undermining democracy.

RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari criticized the situation as indicative of the failures of the SIR process in Bihar, pointing out that several NDA leaders have also been found registered in multiple locations.

The EC has acknowledged that duplicate voter registrations are a persistent issue, which prompted the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls nationwide.

The SIR, which began in Bihar, concluded with updated rolls published on September 30, resulting in the removal of approximately 68.66 lakh entries, including around seven lakh instances of voters registered in multiple locations.