Prashant Kishor Under EC Scanner for Dual Voter Registration Across Two States: Why This Incident Exposes The Duplicity of Leaders Who Question Election Commission

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a showcause notice to Jan Suraaj Party founder and political strategist Prashant Kishor after discovering that his name appears on electoral rolls in both Bihar and West Bengal. The notice, served by the Returning Officer of Bihar’s Kargahar constituency, cites Section 17 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which explicitly prohibits a person from being enrolled as a voter in more than one constituency. Kishor has been asked to provide an explanation within three days.

According to the notice, Kishor is registered as a voter in Part 367 (Middle School, Konar, North Section) in Kargahar under polling booth number 621, with EPIC number 1013123718. Simultaneously, his name appears in the Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency of West Bengal, with a polling station located at St. Helen School, B Ranishankari Lane an area that also happens to be the political stronghold of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The notice warns that such dual registration may invite penalties under Section 31 of the same Act, which prescribes imprisonment of up to one year, a fine, or both, for making a false declaration in connection with the inclusion or exclusion of a name in an electoral roll. Reacting to the notice, Surprisingly Prashant Kishor admitted that his name does indeed appear in the electoral rolls of both states but attributed the error to the Election Commission’s negligence, not his own. He claimed that the duplication was an administrative oversight during the transfer of voter records and denied any deliberate wrongdoing.

Kishor, once a key election strategist for multiple national and regional parties including the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal and the Congress party during earlier campaigns has been actively positioning his own political outfit, the Jan Suraaj Party, as a fresh alternative to both the NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc in Bihar.

Over the past year, Kishor has undertaken mass padyatras, public meetings, and village-level outreach programmes across Bihar, focusing on themes of political reform and local empowerment. His dual voter listing, however, has now placed him under intense scrutiny, both legally and politically, at a crucial time when Bihar is heading toward elections. The Election Commission’s move against Kishor comes on the heels of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls, a statewide exercise aimed at cleaning up voter lists and removing ineligible or duplicate entries. The revision, which concluded with the publication of the final rolls on September 30, identified and deleted nearly 68.66 lakh electors, including about 7 lakh individuals found registered in more than one constituency.

The EC’s nationwide order issued on June 24, 2025, had already noted that duplicate registrations were becoming a persistent problem, especially due to voters shifting residences without deleting their earlier entries. “Some electors obtain registration in one place and then shift to another without getting their names deleted from the previous constituency,” the EC noted, warning that such lapses undermine the credibility of electoral rolls.

Despite these efforts, officials concede that duplicate entries still exist across several states, largely due to lack of coordination between local electoral offices and delayed updates to the national database. The timing of the controversy has sparked sharp political reactions. With Bihar slated to vote in two phases November 6 and 11, and counting scheduled for November 14 Kishor’s dual registration has provided ammunition to political rivals. Critics argue that the incident exposes the duplicity of opposition leaders who often accuse others of electoral manipulation.

Observers also point out that several of Rahul Gandhi’s allies, including Kishor’s former political partners in the INDIA bloc, have previously been accused of ignoring similar irregularities. The issue, described by some as a case of “Vote Chori hypocrisy,” highlights inconsistencies in the opposition’s rhetoric about electoral integrity.

While Kishor maintains his innocence, the notice could have legal and political implications for his party’s campaign narrative, especially given his past advocacy for transparent and fair elections. The Prashant Kishor episode underscores the ongoing challenges the Election Commission of India faces in maintaining clean, accurate, and updated voter rolls. Despite sustained efforts through the Special Intensive Revision and technological upgrades, duplicate registrations continue to surface some unintentional, others possibly deliberate.

For Kishor, who once shaped national-level election strategies, this episode poses a reputational test.