FIR over 'bogus voters' in Mahadevapura; police probe electoral fraud

Bengaluru: A woman resident of Mahadevapura has filed a complaint with the Whitefield police, alleging major electoral data violation involving the illegal inclusion of bogus voters in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The complainant, Y Vinoda, who works for the Marathahalli Block Congress and is a resident of Nallurhalli, alleged that unidentified officials and political workers colluded to manipulate voter rolls by inserting duplicate and fake names. She stated that copies of these manipulated voter lists were shared with people who had no legal authority to access them.

Vinoda stated in the complaint that while reviewing the voter rolls of the Bangalore Central Parliamentary Constituency, she noticed suspicious entries under the Mahadevapura assembly segment.

Many names appeared to be duplicates or non-existent, raising suspicion of deliberate tampering to benefit political interests.

She further stated that such unauthorised handling of voter data amounts to a serious breach of citizens’ rights and undermines the integrity of the electoral process.

The complainant urged police to identify the officials and political functionaries responsible for gaining unlawful access to the electoral rolls.

She termed it an organised effort to influence the election and sought action against those who circulated the data and facilitated the entry of ineligible voters.

She said the act not only compromised the confidentiality of voter information, but also pointed to a larger conspiracy.

Based on her complaint, the Whitefield police have registered offences under multiple IPC sections, including 405, 406, 409 (criminal breach of trust), 465 and 466 (forgery), 471 and 474 (use and possession of forged documents), 166 and 167 (misconduct by public servants), 171C, 171D and 171F (election offences) read with 120B (criminal conspiracy), along with Section 129 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

“We are verifying the documents shared by the complainant. We have issued a notice to the officials concerned to submit a written clarification over the allegations to take further action,” a senior police officer told DH.