Bihar Elections: Tejashwi Yadav’s Voter List Dispute and the Reactions of ECI and JDU

Bihar is experiencing heightened political tensions as it moves closer to the 2025 Assembly elections, with a controversy unfolding over the voter registration process. Criticism has been directed at the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) Electoral Roll, citing inaccuracies such as including deceased individuals and omitting eligible voters. Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD’s candidate, has claimed his name is not on the Election Commission’s draft voter list, despite completing the necessary form during the special revision. This has led to a reaction from the Janata Dal (United), accusing Yadav of misleading the public. In Patna, Tejashwi told a press conference that his name was not listed in the electoral roll, and questioned how he could run in the elections. He also expressed that even entering his EPIC number revealed no information about his name in the system. However, the Patna district administration quickly refuted the claims, clarifying that Tejashwi Yadav’s name is present in the voter list, though his polling station details have been altered. Yadav then questioned the impact of this change on the public and suggested it was a conspiracy to cut peoples’ names from the voter list. The Election Commission has refuted this claim and stated it as false. JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar responded by calling Tejashwi a ‘political fraud.’ The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a verification process to ensure all eligible citizens are correctly included on the voter rolls.