Tejashwi Yadav alleges name missing from Bihar's voter List draft; EC, BJP counter claim

Tejashwi Yadav

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday claimed that his name was missing from the draft electoral roll released following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar.

Speaking to reporters, he said that even after entering his EPIC number, no record appeared in the system.

Yadav added that he had filled out the required form on the SIR portal and submitted it to the Booth Level Officer (BLO), but his name still did not appear in the updated list.

“My worry now is, how will I contest the elections? Being a citizen is a basic requirement for that," he said.

VIDEO | In a press conference, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) says, "Since the start of the SIR exercise, there has been no transparency, they started it without taking the political parties in loop, the Opposition questioned the timing, our delegation met the ECI… pic.twitter.com/MaEaHO6qkb

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 2, 2025

The Election Commission of India (ECI) denied the allegation, stating that Tejashwi’s name was indeed present in the roll.

BJP leader Amit Malviya also posted a screenshot of the draft roll on X, showing Tejashwi Yadav’s name at Serial Number 416. "Fake News Alert. Tejashwi Yadav’s claim that his name is missing from the electoral roll post Special Intensive Revision is false. His name appears at Serial Number 416. Please verify facts before amplifying misinformation. Deliberate attempts to mislead voters must be called out," Malviya said on X.

Earlier, the EC had released the updated draft electoral rolls as part of its pre-poll exercise. According to the data, Bihar now has around 7.24 crore registered voters, down from approximately 7.9 crore, after over 65 lakh enumeration forms were excluded during the revision.

Patna district has the highest number of voters at 46.51 lakh, followed by Purvi Champaran (33.73 lakh), Muzaffarpur (32.03 lakh), and Madhubani (30.24 lakh). Sheohar has the lowest number at 2.95 lakh, followed by Arwal (5.11 lakh) and Lakhisarai (7.33 lakh).