EPIC number row: Tejashwi Yadav gets fresh deadline; asked to submit original original voter ID by Friday

NEW DELHI: With RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav yet to furnish the original copy of his elector’s photo identity card (EPIC) flashed at a press conference in Patna but which was later not found by EC to be “officially issued”, the concerned electoral registration officer (ERO) on Wednesday set a deadline of August 8 for him to do the needful.

The ERO, in a reminder sent to Tejashwi on Wednesday, cited his letter dated August 3, in which he was asked to submit original EPIC card no RAB2916120 for a thorough investigation into its authenticity and origins. “You are requested to provide details of the card, along with its original copy, by the afternoon of August 8,” he told the former deputy chief minister of Bihar .

Tejashwi had, at a press conference on August 2, claimed that a search of Bihar’s draft electoral roll with his EPIC no RAB2916120 had found his name missing, only to be fact-checked by the Election Commission that his name and actual EPIC No. RAB0456228 were very much included. The poll panel later said it had failed to find any EPIC no RAB2916120 issued by its authorised officers, in its past records from 10 years.

If found fake, there may be legal consequences, including an FIR, as per sources in EC.