Bihar polls: A tale of two voter ID cards: What you need to do, penalties and legalities

Apart from the political battle, Bihar, where the elections are being held, is witnessing another battle: a fight over voter ID cards. Allegations are rife in the state after many high-profile people were found in possession of two voter ID cards.

The Election Commission, which is facing criticism from the opposition over the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of the state’s electoral rolls, has taken up the matter seriously. He sent notices to these people and asked them for a response.

This began after allegations surfaced that Rashtriya Janata Dal MP and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav was holding two voter ID cards in Bihar.

ALSO READ | Rahul Gandhi and INDIA bloc leaders to scrap ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ across Bihar from August 17

There are more than 96 million registered voters in Bihar, and the EC has recognized that a small percentage of registrations, sometimes caused by human error or deliberate duplication, may be inaccurate. The EC, in its draft electoral roll released on August 1, has enrolled 7.24 million voters and excluded over 65 million names. The poll body said these were 22 lakh deceased, 36 lakh migrated/untraceable and seven lakh duplicate voters.

Cases of two voter cards

Recently, the EC issued a notice to Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha for allegedly having two voter ID cards and being registered in two different Assembly constituencies. Yadav claimed that Sinha was included in the electoral roll in Lakhisarai and Bankipur constituencies, which are in different districts.

Another person in the list is Muzaffarpur mayor and BJP leader Nirmala Devi, who has been issued a notice for allegedly possessing two voter ID cards. The EC has also sent notices to his two relatives – Manoj Kumar and Dilip Kumar – who are also said to have voter ID cards for two offices in the same Assembly constituency.

A notice was also issued to LJP MP (Ram Vilas) from Vaishali Veena Devi from Bihar and her husband Dinesh Singh, a JD(U) MLC, for allegedly possessing two voter identity cards each. This action came hours after Yadav claimed that the couple each had two voter ID cards.

What to do if you have two voter cards

The EC urges citizens to promptly correct duplicate voter ID records. If you discover that you have two voter cards, whether by accident or inadvertently, follow these steps:

• Complete Form 7 to request deletion of an entry.
• Provide the EPIC number of the older or incorrect card to your local booth level agent (BLO).
• Submit the duplicate card to the nearest electoral office.

If the duplication was unintentional, authorities generally do not impose severe penalties. However, deliberately obtaining a second card – including to vote more than once or using it as a fake ID – can result in strict legal action.

What happens if you get caught

If you are found with two voter cards, you could face:

• A show cause notice from the ECI.
• FIR registration and legal proceedings.
• Prohibition from running for office or benefiting from government programs.
• Removal of your name from the electoral list.

Legal provisions

• Article 31 of the Representation of the People Law: Penalizes false declarations in electoral registers with imprisonment of up to one year, a fine, or both. This is a non-cognizable offence, meaning police need permission from a magistrate to take action.
• Article 17: Prohibits registration in more than one constituency.
• Article 18: Prohibits double registration within the same constituency.
• Violations of Articles 17 and 18 are punishable offenses, even if committed unintentionally.

ALSO READ | Tell us about the documents examined during the 2003 revision of the Bihar electoral rolls: SC to ECI