Prashant Kishor Found Registered as Voter in Both Bihar and West Bengal: Electoral Law Violation Uncovered

Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has been identified as a registered voter in both Bihar and West Bengal, according to an election official's statement on Tuesday.

Kishor, whose Jan Suraaj Party is currently participating in the Bihar assembly elections, appears on electoral rolls in two different states simultaneously.

Official records reveal that Kishor is registered as a voter at 121, Kalighat Road in West Bengal, which is the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Kolkata's Bhabanipur assembly constituency - the seat represented by Chief Minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee.

The election official noted, "His designated polling station in West Bengal is St Helen School on B Ranishankari Lane."

Kishor had previously served as a political consultant for the TMC during West Bengal's 2021 assembly elections.

In Bihar, Kishor is registered in the Kargahar assembly segment under the Sasaram parliamentary constituency in Rohtas district, with his assigned polling booth at Madhya Vidyalaya, Konar.

The official highlighted Section 17 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which explicitly prohibits an individual from being registered as a voter in multiple constituencies.

"Section 18 additionally forbids multiple entries within the same constituency. Voters who change residence are required to submit Form 8 to transfer their enrollment," the official explained.

The Election Commission has recognized duplicate voter entries as a persistent issue, citing this as one of the motivations behind launching the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls nationwide.

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