In a bizarre blunder, a 30-year-old woman in Bihar received a revised voter ID card featuring the image of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar- captured mid-squint in a candid pose, shielding his eyes from the sun. The revision came after Abhilasha Kumari, a resident of the Madhepura municipal council, submitted a request to update her address on her voter ID. While the address was successfully corrected, her photograph was replaced with that of Bihar CM.
“I had applied for a correction on my voter ID card, but when I received it through the post office," Abhilasha Kumari said.
Her husband, Chandan Kumar called it a case of “serious negligence." He said, “Everything was fine on the card, but the photo was of Nitish Kumar ji. This reflects the negligence on the government’s part. The face of a sitting Chief Minister on a woman’s voter ID is not a small mistake. It’s laughable, but it’s also a major lapse in the system."
The couple claimed that when they approached the Booth Level Officer (BLO) responsible for the voter ID update, they were allegedly told to “keep quiet" and not publicise the matter.
Authorities said that an inquiry has been ordered into the incident. The responsible BLO has been asked to submit a written explanation within a week.
Political Fallout Over Photo Blunder
Opposition parties were quick to seize the moment as Trinamool Congress posted on X (formerly Twitter), “A shocking and shameful incident has surfaced from Bihar where a woman’s voter ID card in Madhepura district features the face of CM Nitish Kumar instead of her photograph." The party further claimed that “similar bizarre, erroneous voter IDs are pouring in from across states," questioning the credibility of the ongoing voter data management.
