A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by a former judge, to inquire into alleged large-scale manipulation of electoral rolls in Bengaluru Central and other constituencies.
The plea, filed by advocate Rohit Pandey, has also urged the apex court to restrain further revision or finalisation of electoral rolls until an independent audit is completed and the court’s directions are complied with.
The petition draws attention to the August 7 press conference by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, where he alleged a “huge criminal fraud” in the electoral process through “collusion” between the BJP and the Election Commission. Gandhi described the alleged irregularities as an “atom bomb on our democracy” and cited data analysis from Karnataka’s Mahadevapura Assembly segment under Bengaluru Central constituency.
Soon after, the Chief Electoral Officers of Karnataka and Maharashtra asked Gandhi to provide names of voters he claimed were wrongly included, along with a signed declaration to initiate official proceedings. On August 17, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar warned that Gandhi must submit his allegations under oath within seven days, failing which his claims of “vote theft” would stand invalid.
The petitioner has sought binding guidelines for the Election Commission (EC) to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity in preparing, maintaining, and publishing electoral rolls. It called for electoral rolls to be published in accessible, machine-readable, and OCR-compliant formats to allow independent verification and public scrutiny.
“The petitioner has observed grave irregularities in the electoral rolls of Bengaluru Central Parliamentary Constituency (Mahadevapura Assembly Constituency), which, on the face of it, warrant urgent consideration by this court,” the plea stated, adding that judicial intervention was necessary to safeguard the sanctity of the Constitution.
Citing developments in Maharashtra, the plea highlighted that between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the forthcoming Assembly polls, approximately 39 lakh new voters were added in just four months — compared to around 50 lakh additions in the preceding five years. Such a “sudden and disproportionate increase,” it argued, raised serious concerns about the credibility of the process.
The petition underscored that the Supreme Court has consistently held that free and fair elections form part of the “basic structure” of the Constitution and cannot be compromised by legislative or executive inaction.
