The Karnataka State Election Commission (SEC) has forwarded Rajya Sabha MP Mansoor Ali Khan’s complaint over alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls of Mahadevapura Assembly constituency to the Election Commission of India (ECI), asking that the grievances be examined as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Karnataka.
Mansoor, an All India Congress Committee secretary, had first submitted the complaint to the Karnataka SEC on May 21. In a response dated August 10, the state poll body said the complaint had been forwarded to the ECI. Mansoor then wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi on the same day, seeking that the allegations be examined during the SIR.
The complaint is based on the Congress party’s earlier analysis of the Mahadevapura electoral roll, which it said had revealed more than one lakh suspicious or allegedly fraudulent entries. The party had also alleged irregularities in the electoral roll of Gandhinagar Assembly constituency.
The allegations were first made publicly by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in August 2025, following the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Gandhi had alleged that the Mahadevapura voter list contained a large number of fraudulent entries and that the Congress’ analysis had identified five types of irregularities.
The Congress said it had physically verified lakhs of voter entries in Mahadevapura, going through printed electoral rolls that, when stacked, were more than seven feet high.
According to the party, its exercise identified 1,00,250 suspicious entries. These included 11,965 alleged duplicate voters, 40,009 entries with fake or invalid addresses, 10,452 cases where large numbers of voters were registered at a single address, 4,132 entries with invalid or indistinguishable photographs, and 33,692 allegedly improper uses of Form 6, which was used to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll.
The Congress has argued that these alleged irregularities had an impact on the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Bengaluru Central, which consists of eight Assembly segments.
Mansoor Ali Khan was the Congress candidate from Bengaluru Central and lost to BJP’s PC Mohan by 32,707 votes. Gandhi had said the Congress’ analysis showed that much of the BJP’s lead in the constituency came from Mahadevapura, where the BJP recorded a margin of more than 1.14 lakh votes.
The BJP won the Mahadevapura Assembly segment by 1,14,046 votes.
The allegations also led to a police case. In 2025, Whitefield police registered a case of electoral fraud based on a complaint by local Congress leader Y Vinoda, which cited Gandhi’s allegations.
The ECI disputed Gandhi’s claims at the time. The poll panel had also maintained that political parties should raise concerns about electoral rolls during the claims and objections period following publication of the rolls.
The latest complaint comes as Karnataka is undergoing an SIR of its electoral rolls. The draft electoral roll was published on August 24, and special camps are being held to help voters verify their names and file claims and objections.
Karnataka currently has 4.46 crore electors on its rolls. Around 43.81 lakh notices are expected to be issued to people whose status as voters is being challenged during the SIR.
With the SEC forwarding Mansoor’s complaint to the ECI, the Congress is now seeking to have its earlier allegations examined as part of the ongoing revision of Karnataka’s electoral rolls.
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