Jan Suraaj Party founder and political strategist Prashant Kishor found himself at the centre of a controversy on Tuesday after reports surfaced that he is registered as a voter in both Bihar and West Bengal.
According to official records, Kishor’s name appears on the electoral roll at 121, Kalighat Road in Kolkata’s Bhabanipur constituency — the address of the Trinamool Congress headquarters and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s seat. His polling station is listed as St Helen School on B Ranishankari Lane. Kishor had earlier worked as a political consultant for the TMC during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Simultaneously, Kishor is also enrolled as a voter at his native village in Kargahar Assembly segment under Sasaram constituency in Bihar’s Rohtas district, where his polling booth is Madhya Vidyalaya, Konar.
A senior poll official cited Section 17 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which prohibits registration as a voter in more than one constituency. He added that such duplication could occur only if the voter failed to file Form 8, required for transferring registration upon changing residence.
Reacting to the development, Jan Suraaj Party spokesperson Kumar Saurabh Singh said the Election Commission must take responsibility for the lapse. “The EC had launched the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar with great fanfare, deleting many names. If such an error can occur in the case of a known personality like Prashant Kishor, one can imagine the diligence elsewhere,” he remarked.
While Singh maintained that Kishor is an educated man who understands his civic responsibilities, he did not clarify whether Kishor had applied to have his name removed from Bengal’s voter list. “If the EC believes there’s wrongdoing, our legal team will respond,” he added.
The revelation triggered sharp political reactions across party lines in Bihar. JD(U) leader Neeraj Kumar said it was “amusing” that Kishor, a Bihari by origin, was registered in West Bengal. “We suspect he sought a Rajya Sabha seat through Mamata Banerjee after the 2021 elections, for which he needed Bengal residency. When that didn’t materialize, he dramatically quit consulting,” he alleged.
BJP spokesperson Neeraj Kumar called it “a heinous crime, not a clerical mistake,” alleging Kishor was part of a “vile conspiracy with the TMC to manipulate Bihar elections.” He demanded a “rigorous investigation” by the Election Commission.
RJD’s Mrityunjay Tiwari said the episode exposed “the farce” of the Election Commission’s voter roll revision process and accused Kishor of secretly working for the BJP-led NDA.
The Election Commission, acknowledging that duplicate voter entries are a recurring issue, said the ongoing Special Intensive Revision exercise has already deleted over 68 lakh duplicate entries nationwide, including around seven lakh cases of voters registered in multiple constituencies.
The controversy adds another layer to Kishor’s political journey — from being one of India’s most sought-after poll strategists to leading his own political outfit in Bihar.
