A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by a former Judge to probe allegations of large-scale electoral roll manipulation in the Bengaluru Central constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The petition, filed by Advocate Rohit Pandey, arises from claims made by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi regarding irregularities in voter lists. It also urges the Court to direct that no further revisions or finalization of the electoral rolls take place until the audit and compliance with the Court’s directions are completed.
The petitioner has additionally sought issuance of binding guidelines to the Election Commission of India to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity in preparing and maintaining electoral rolls. The PIL emphasizes the need for mechanisms to detect and prevent duplicate or fictitious entries and requests that the Commission publish the rolls in machine-readable and OCR-compliant formats for meaningful public verification and audit.
Citing Rahul Gandhi’s press conference of August 7, the petitioner stated that an independent verification revealed substantial prima facie evidence of attempts to dilute and distort lawful votes, necessitating urgent judicial intervention in the public interest. According to the petition, there were 40,009 invalid entries and 10,452 duplicates in the constituency. Instances were noted where a single individual had multiple EPIC numbers across states, multiple voters shared identical house addresses and fathers’ names, and around 80 voters in one booth listed a very small house as their address. Such anomalies cast serious doubt on the authenticity of the rolls and raise the possibility of fraudulent voting.
The petition underscores that such manipulation undermines the constitutional guarantee of universal adult suffrage under Article 326, violates the Election Commission’s supervisory mandate under Article 324, and infringes Article 14 and Article 21, which protect equality before the law and the right to participate meaningfully in democratic governance. The petitioner contends that large-scale tampering of electoral rolls threatens the principle of “one person, one vote” enshrined under Article 325 and Article 326, eroding the value of lawful votes and compromising due process.
The PIL has been filed through Advocate Kausar Raza Faridi and seeks urgent judicial oversight to restore the credibility of the electoral process.
Picture Source :
