Respect constitutional bodies, says Vijay Sinha as EC serves notice on 'possessing' 2 voter cards

Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, who has been served with a notice by the Election Commission for allegedly possessing two voter ID cards, on Monday asserted that he respects constitutional bodies and will respond to the poll panel's queries.

The senior BJP leader, who has been left with egg on his face, was replying to questions from journalists here, a day after the Election Commission notice was served to him in the backdrop of the anomaly being highlighted by the opposition.

Sinha said, "I respect the country's Constitution and all constitutional bodies. I am not like Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav." Notably, Yadav, the RJD leader, and the Congress had targeted the BJP leader over his name appearing at two different places in Bihar in the draft electoral rolls published as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

The BJP leader had clarified before the media that he had been registered as a voter of Bankipur constituency in Patna, and last year, he applied for registration in Lakhisarai, his assembly segment, and requested the authorities to strike off his name in the state capital. But he claimed that the same could not be done.

However, the EC took grave note of the matter and slapped him with a notice commanding him to reply by August 14.

Earlier, the EC had also issued a notice to Tejashwi Yadav, who also has two voter ID cards, one of which has been "not issued officially", according to officials.