Former minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, who mysteriously escaped scrutiny over the Davanagere South bye-poll, finds himself in serious trouble again on the same issue. Leaked audio clippings viral on social media, allegedly record him sabotaging the Congress candidate and even distributing money in favour of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) candidate.
The viral audio clippings between Zameer Ahmed and Mohammed Siraj, director of the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation (KMDC), surfaced on June 1, amid intense lobbying by Congress leaders for cabinet berths in the DK Shivakumar-led government to be sworn in on June 3.
At one point, Zameer is heard telling Siraj not to make Muslims come out of their homes and vote. “If they come out (of their homes) and vote, they’ll likely vote for Congress. We can’t trust them. Whoever comes out, tell them to vote for SDPI or the Independent (candidate). If they don’t come out, that’s good,” the voice identified as Zameer’s is heard as saying in one of the clippings.
Ahmed is considered a confidante of Siddaramaiah, and is believed to be among those whom the latter might push for in the DK Shivakumar-led cabinet. Both Zameer Ahmed and Siraj have claimed that the clippings are doctored.
Two clippings, one which runs 3.51 minutes and the other 2.14 minutes, were shared by social media accounts named "KannadaCockroacc" (@kannadacocylvb) on June 1. Zameer and Siraj are heard discussing on voting day, the Congress candidate Samarth Mallikarjun’s chances in the Davanagere South Assembly bye-election held on April 9.
The bye-poll was necessitated by the death of veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa. The party fielded his grandson, Samarth Mallikarjun. The BJP fielded Srinivas T Dasakariyappa, and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) fielded Afsar Kodlipete.
The speaker identified as Zameer tells Siraj that the result is a "question of my reputation" and that he had been suffering "sleepless nights" over the contest.
When Zameer asks how voting is progressing, Siraj responds with "Cooker. Only cooker," a reference to the SDPI candidate's election symbol.
On May 4, observers were shocked as the SDPI’s vote share in Davanagere South continued to rise through the day, eventually securing 12% of the vote. In the previous election, just three years ago, the party barely managed 1% of the vote. While the BJP’s vote share from the previous election remained the same, it was the Congress’ vote share which appeared to have gone to the SDPI.
Zameer also alleges that Congress was distributing money near polling booths, to which Siraj replies that the Congress had not spent as much as Zameer had on behalf of the SDPI candidate.
In another explosive section, Siraj claims to have met BJP candidate Sreenivas Dasakariyappa, referred to as "Seena," and to have asked him to deploy workers to sabotage the Congress campaign, with the BJP candidate allegedly responding, "I will do it boss."
Zameer, who was accused of sabotaging the Congress candidate the day after the election, has flatly denied the allegations.
"The audio is fake and has been created using AI technology. This is a political conspiracy. I have not made any such remarks. All this has been fabricated to create confusion and mislead people. This is the handiwork of mischief-makers, and nobody should believe it," he said.
He added that a complaint would be filed with the cyber crime police and that legal proceedings would be initiated against those responsible, while declaring he was prepared to face any independent investigation into the clip.
Siraj similarly rejected the recording. He told reporters that Zameer had not spoken to him in the manner the clip suggests and described the audio as heavily edited and manipulated.
He alleged it had been released deliberately ahead of the swearing-in to sabotage Zameer's Cabinet prospects. While he acknowledged knowing the BJP candidate, he denied speaking to him after the candidacy was announced. "On the polling day, after casting my vote, I came home and slept. I have not spoken to anyone," he said, adding that he would take legal advice before proceeding further.
Congress and Muslim representation
The very next day after the bye-election, a section of senior Congress leaders such as Rizwan Arshad and Saleem Ahmed accused unnamed Congress leaders of “anti-party” activities. Soon, heads rolled.
The Congress’ Minority Cell head Abdul Jabbar was asked to resign from the post and was then removed from the party’s primary membership. MLC Naseer Ahmed was sacked from his post as the CM’s political secretary. However, no action was taken against Zameer Ahmed, despite allegations that he too had worked against the party. Zameer had kept away from the Davanagere South campaign entirely, citing election commitments in Kerala. The party leadership deployed MLA Rizwan Arshad and MLC Saleem Ahmed to manage the campaign in Davanagere South in his absence.
The row has reignited longstanding tensions within Karnataka Congress over the party's decision to deny a ticket to a Muslim candidate in a constituency with a significant Muslim electorate.
Before the poll, Zameer had reportedly lobbied hard for Congress leader Abdul Jabbar to receive the ticket, given the constituency’s sizeable Muslim population thanks to gerrymandering by the Congress during delimitation in 2008. When the party chose Samarth Mallikarjun instead, it triggered considerable resentment among some Muslim leaders, who felt that Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s family was over represented. Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s son SS Mallikarjun was then a minister and his daughter-in-law Prabha Mallikarjun is an MP.
Despite the internal discord, Congress retained the seat, though the victory margin was significantly less. Samarth Shamanur Mallikarjuna won by 5,708 votes, a steep drop from the 27,888-vote margin his grandfather had secured in 2023.
KPCC General Secretary D Basavaraj and former Davanagere mayor Chaman Sab have written to KPCC President DK Shivakumar, outgoing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and senior national Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala. The letter alleges that Zameer instructed supporters to ensure Muslim votes did not go to the Congress nominee and incited the minority community to back the SDPI candidate instead.
"Being a senior party leader, conspiring to defeat the official candidate of the party during the by-election has caused great disappointment and anger among the grassroots workers. This is a betrayal of the party's discipline and ideology," the letter states. It urges the KPCC president to verify the audio's authenticity and refer the matter to the Disciplinary Committee.