Bengaluru, 1 Sept

The Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer has forwarded Rajya Sabha MP Mansoor Ali Khan’s complaint regarding voter entries in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency to the Election Commission of India (ECI), seeking its examination during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

In a communication dated 14 August, it informed Khan that his application, submitted on 21 May, had been sent to the ECI “for consideration of the said grievances during the process of SIR in the State of Karnataka”.

It also enclosed its 10 August communication to the Chief Election Commissioner, which records complaints concerning electoral rolls in Mahadevapura and parts of Gandhinagar constituency. It requested that the grievances be examined and redressed through the SIR process. Khan said the forwarding of his complaint meant that voter theft questions over the Mahadevapura rolls could no longer be dismissed as political allegations. He said the issue was now “squarely before the ECI”.

Referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s earlier highlighting of alleged electoral-roll irregularities in Mahadevapura, Khan said the matter was not merely a political debate for Bengaluru voters, adding that the BJP continues to hold the seat.

Khan urged the ECI to clarify what would be verified, how anomalies would be investigated, whether findings would be made public and the timeframe for the exercise. “The integrity of an election begins with the integrity of its electoral roll,” Khan said.