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According to Congress leaders, the party’s legal team found discrepancies involving nearly 60,000 voters in Mahadevapura alone
Rahul Gandhi’s protest in Bengaluru is part of the Congress’s larger national campaign questioning the neutrality and conduct of the ECI.
Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi will lead a protest in Bengaluru on August 8, targeting the Election Commission of India (ECI) over what the party claims was large-scale voter fraud in Karnataka and across the country.
The timing for the Congress may be such that they are looking at “exposing the BJP” just before the Bihar polls. The focus in Karnataka: the Mahadevapura assembly segment—ground zero for what the Congress calls “bhayankar chori” (massive theft) of votes.
Here’s why this walk is taking place.
Among the three Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengaluru, Bangalore Central saw an unusually close contest in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Congress candidate for the Bangalore Central LS seat, Mansoor Ali Khan, mounted a serious challenge to BJP’s three-time sitting MP PC Mohan, who has held the seat since 2009.
On the morning of counting day, June 4, 2024, it looked like the Congress might pull off a surprise. BJP leaders were worried and whispers were heard on whether they had underestimated the Congress candidate as the fight had turned into a neck-and-neck contest, with Khan in the lead in the morning rounds.
Khan was ahead by over 80,000 votes in the early rounds—a number that had party workers cheering and preparing for celebration.
However, between 2 and 3pm, things began to change.
While the ECI website still showed Khan in the lead, Mohan walked out of the counting centre and confidently declared victory, saying that the results would be delayed in uploading on the ECI website but he had won.
Mohan declared that though he had faced tough competition in the votes polled in Chamarajpet and Shivajinagar assembly constituencies—both of which had, in the previous year’s assembly polls, elected Congress MLAs—it was the voters of Mahadevapura, CV Raman Nagar and Gandhinagar who helped him cross the finish line. CV Raman Nagar and Mahadevapura are BJP assembly segment seats, but Gandhinagar belongs to Congress MLA and sitting Congress minister Dinesh Gundu Rao.
The final count told the story. Mohan secured 6,58,915 votes, while Khan polled 6,26,208—a narrow victory margin of 32,707 votes. Notably, this was Mohan’s slimmest margin in four elections. NOTA came third with over 12,000 votes.
But the Congress was not buying it.
Party leaders have been alleging foul play. They claimed something “fishy” had happened—and that this was not just a case of counting delays. Since then, Congress’s internal teams have been working on compiling what they say is documentary evidence of “voter theft”.
Rahul Gandhi had already fired the opening salvo. Speaking outside Parliament, he alleged: “We have studied the voter list of one Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka and we have 100 per cent proof of vote theft. I will place it before the ECI in black and white.”
The heart of their claim remains Mahadevapura.
According to Congress leaders, the party’s legal team found discrepancies involving nearly 60,000 voters in Mahadevapura alone. “This is based on our own study. Similar irregularities were found in Rajajinagar and Gandhinagar as well,” said a senior Congress leader working closely with the compilation of data.
According to party sources, a 20-member legal and research team digitised electoral rolls over a six-month period and analysed patterns across constituencies. They claim to have found fake entries, duplicate voters, mass deletions, and patterns of names removed from certain communities.
Former minister and Congress candidate from Mahadevapura H Nagesh had claimed that he submitted documents in April 2023 showing fake and forged entries. However, the Chief Electoral Officer’s office in a formal response to Nagesh’s letter requesting a copy, said: “This office does not have records of any such letter received… You have not filed any election petition nor any appeal against the entries.”
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has also backed Gandhi’s campaign, stating that the Congress has “credible information” of voter list tampering in Mahadevapura, Rajajinagar and several other constituencies.
Siddaramaiah added that the party will present its findings to the Election Commission in an official memorandum. “Rahul Gandhi has credible documents. We want to submit them formally. We want the Election Commission to act,” he said.
The BJP has dismissed the entire protest as political posturing and questioned the timing.
“If we could manipulate elections and the Election Commission, do you think we would be sitting in the Opposition?” Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra asked.
Mohan, the siting MP of Bangalore Central and the man who won against Khan, also hit back: “If they have evidence, let them go to court. Why now?” he questioned.
Initially, the plan was for Gandhi to lead a padayatra from Mahadevapura to the Chief Electoral Officer’s office. However, the Karnataka High Court’s 2022 order banning rallies in the city’s Central Business District forced the party to shift the protest to Freedom Park. Concerns were also raised about how it would disrupt Bengaluru’s already deteriorating traffic situation and lead to more congestion and disruption.
Deputy chief minister and KPCC president DK Shivakumar said the party was forced to call off the padayatra and opt for a park protest due to legal constraints. “Keeping in mind the rules framed by our own government and the court’s direction, we have decided to hold a protest at Freedom Park. We have asked party leaders and workers from all blocks across the state to participate,” he said.
Shivakumar insists this is just the beginning. “It’s not only Karnataka. Our leader will explain how this modus operandi works across India. We’ve done a major investigation. This protest is just the first step,” he told the media.
When asked whether the Congress would be submitting documents to the CEO, Karnataka, Shivakumar said it was up to the party seniors to take a call.
The Election Commission maintains that its processes have been transparent. Karnataka CEO V Anbukumar said, “Electoral rolls are prepared transparently. No formal appeals or complaints were received.”
Rahul Gandhi’s protest in Bengaluru is part of the Congress’s larger national campaign questioning the neutrality and conduct of the ECI. The party alleges that the institution allowed the “theft of democracy” and ignored formal objections and complaints raised after polling.
After the protest, a delegation, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala, Siddaramaiah, and Shivakumar will hand over the memorandum to the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer.
Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18’s digital platform. She has previously worked with t…Read More
Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18’s digital platform. She has previously worked with t… Read More
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