The Whitefield police have registered an FIR against unknown individuals over alleged voter fraud in Mahadevapura during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, sources said that legal questions loom over the maintainability of the FIR.
An individual named Y. Vinoda, 39, a resident of Whitefield and a voter in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency, lodged a complaint on November 19, making serious allegations that a large number of fake voters were added to electoral rolls in Mahadevapura and it is in the public domain..
Based on this complaint, the Whitefield police registered an FIR on November 19 under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Representation of People’s Act, 1951.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had, in a press conference he held in New Delhi on August 7, 2025, alleged that there were 1,00,250 fake voters in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency, including duplications, large number of voters registered at a single address, and so on. He had also asked the Congress-led Karnataka government to probe the matter further.
Legal questions loom
However, sources said that the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, clearly states that only election officials can lodge a police complaint regarding suspected election and voter frauds and not anyone else.
The Andhra Pradesh government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe an FIR registered based on a complaint lodged by a Telugu Desam Party MLA alleging voter fraud in his constituency. It was withdrawn after the Election Commission of India (ECI) objected to the same.
On September 18, 2025, Mr. Gandhi also flagged alleged voter fraud in Aland. The Karnataka government has formed a SIT to probe this. In the Aland case, the Returning Officer of Aland assembly constituency had lodged a complaint, based on which an FIR was registered in February 2023.
Published – November 22, 2025 12:31 am IST
