In the wake of Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s questioning of the 2024 Lok Sabha poll verdict in the Bangalore Central constituency – by alleging the “theft” of 1,00,250 votes in its Mahadevapura Assembly segment – BJP leader Aravind Limbavali has been busy collecting information through his booth-level agents (BLAs) and party workers to refute the LoP’s charges.
Limbavali has controlled the Scheduled Castes (SC)-reserved Mahadevapura Assembly seat since it was created in 2008 – first as its three-time MLA and indirectly since 2023 when his wife Manjula S was elected. He has called Gandhi’s allegations “invalid”, “baseless” and “immature”, giving a point-by-point rebuttal at a press conference Friday.
“I am challenging Rahul Gandhi to prove that the one lakh votes that he claims were stolen from the electoral records in Mahadevapura actually translated into physical votes at the booth in the Lok Sabha polls,” Limbavali said, accusing Gandhi of “spreading fake information”.
“The Congress has raised questions about Mahadevapura due to the heavy lead the region provided to the BJP candidate in the Lok Sabha polls,” Limbavali claimed.
While Limbavali did not dispute the existence of discrepancies in Mahadevapura’s electoral rolls, he claimed there were no illegalities involved. He also pointed to similar discrepancies in voter lists for seats won by Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
“The Election Commission (EC) has started a cleaning process of the electoral rolls from Bihar. It should continue. These allegations of bogus votes, mass votes, bulk votes should be stopped even though the five allegations made by Gandhi regarding Mahadevapura are not valid,” he said.
Limbavali’s stance
Limbavali said there has been a huge flow of migrant voters in and out of Mahadevapura since the seat’s creation, resulting in a trebling of the number of voters from 2.75 lakh in 2008 to 6.8 lakh at present.
“There is natural growth of population that has occurred in Mahadevapura. Of course there is also rapid growth in the numbers in the voters list,” Limbavali said. “It is because there are a lot of migrants coming to our constituency and as a consequence the number of voters tends to rise substantially in the region between elections. People living here also tend to leave in large numbers since it involves migrant workers and as a result there are large numbers of deletions in the voter rolls as well,” the BJP leader said.
“Look at the development of the constituency. If we look at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits alone there were 1.48 lakh properties in 2016-17 and the BBMP got Rs 361 crore as tax revenue. In 2024-25, the region had 3.59 lakh properties and contributed Rs 885 crore in tax,” Limbavali said.
BJP’s performance in Mahadevapura
The BJP has won the Mahadevapura Assembly and Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seats in all four elections since 2008, winning them thrice by over a lakh votes.
“The BJP’s graph has been rising in Mahadevapura. We do not know why Rahul Gandhi is upset with us. In 2019 also, the Lok Sabha polls were similar. (BJP candidate) P C Mohan won by 70,968 votes and we gave him a lead of 72,559 in Mahadevapura. This time also the same thing has happened and we (in Mahadevapura) have given a lead of 1.14 lakh and Mohan has won by a margin of 32,707 votes,” Limbavali said.
On Gandhi’s claim that the Congress led in all Assembly segments under Bangalore Central except Mahadevapura, Limbavali said, “This is not true. We had leads from four Assembly segments – Rajajinagar (39,429 votes), Gandhinagar (23,324), C V Raman Nagar (20,114) and Mahadevapura (1.14 lakh).”
Between the 2023 Assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Mahadevapura, the BJP votes in the segment increased by 47,901 from 1.82 lakh in 2023, while the Congress’s votes dipped by 21,744 from 1.37 lakh in 2023.
BJP’s rebuttal
Since Gandhi’s Thursday presentation, where he made his “vote fraud” allegations, Limbavali has tasked BJP workers and his BLAs to check the Mahadevapura’s electoral rolls. He has also collected data on similar “discrepancies” in seats won by the Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls.
“There are five key allegations that Gandhi has made about my constituency. First, fake and invalid votes – 40,009; second, bulk voters with a single address – 10,452; third, misuse of Form 6 – 33,692; fourth, duplicate voters – 11,955; and fifth, invalid photos – 4,132. He has also provided seven examples to substantiate the allegations,” Limbavali said
“Our BLAs collect all data of voting in each booth. The BLAs mark the votes as the voter appears in the booth and casts vote. We have studied the allegations and examples and conducted a reality check,” the BJP leader said.
Gandhi’s ‘duplicate voters’ charge
Citing his BLAs’ records from the election day, Limbavali has sought to refute the examples of duplicate voters flagged by Gandhi.
Gurkirat Singh Dang: Gandhi has claimed a person identified as Dang was present four times in the voter list in four different booths. Limbavali has conceded this claim.
“We spoke to him and found out what happened. He is currently in Chennai. He said he first applied to be added to the voter list in Kannamangala-Seegehalli. His online application was shown as an error and then shown as rejected. He applied again on two more occasions and it was rejected similarly. Finally he used his mother’s name and it was also rejected,” Limbavali said.
“When he checked in the voter list his name came up in four different booths. He later applied with Form 7 for deletion from all booths other than booth number 125, which was the correct booth for his residence. He voted only in one place,” Limbavali said.
Aditya Srivastava: Gandhi also gave the example of Srivastava, from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, as a voter listed in multiple booths.
“When Srivastava was 19, his name was added to the voter list in Lucknow. Later, he completed his MBA and got a job in Mumbai. His name was added to the voter list in Mumbai. He moved from Mumbai to Bengaluru and rented a flat in an apartment – he voted in the 2023 polls when he was at this address,” Limbavali said.
“In the same apartment complex, Srivastava bought his own flat and voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls with this new address. In large apartment blocks, voting booths can be different for people in different blocks since only around 1,000 to 1,200 voters are allocated to each booth. He used Form 7 for change of address,” Limbavali claimed.
Vishal Singh: Gandhi gave the example of Varanasi native Vishal Singh allegedly voting in two booths in Mahadevapura.
“He (Vishal) came to Marathahalli for work and lived in a rented house. He was a voter in booth number 321 in the Assembly poll. Subsequently, he moved to an apartment in Doddakannelli and changed his vote to the new location using Form 7,” Limbavali said.
‘Fake addresses’
Gandhi gave the example of booth number 432 in Mahadevapura, where the addresses for voters were recorded as “00” in the electoral rolls.
“Our poll agents have gone and met these people at the address provided in the voter list. They have provided their addresses but it has not been added in the voter rolls. This is not their fault. The addresses have appeared as ‘00’ or ‘0’. Gandhi has quoted this to suggest that 40,009 voters have provided fake addresses,” Limbavali said.
‘Bulk voters’
Gandhi gave examples of three separate places for his claim that there were 10,452 bulk voters. One is Bellandur’s booth number 470, where he claimed there were 80 voters at one address.
“We have checked and found that only six of these 80 voters have voted… If they had looked at the ground reality they would have found the truth. Somebody has prepared this information and provided it to (Gandhi) without verification,” Limbavali said. “Here there are houses with long rooms that are used as dormitories for migrant workers. These people are workers at a hotel. This is the accommodation provided by the hotel owner. Can workers in a hotel vote or not?”
The second example is from Marathahalli, where 48 voters were alleged to have the same address. “All the voters were in a shed near a construction site. This is booth number 366, where 48 people have the same address, but only two of the 48 voted,” Limbavali said.
“There is also a brewery in booth number 243, where 68 workers are shown as voters with the same address since the workers were given a common accommodation. Only two of the 68 voters from this address voted in the 2024 polls,” he claimed. “There is huge migration in our constituency and people keep coming and going. We have checked in the last 24 hours and these are our findings.”
‘Invalid photos’
“The allegation is the photos are not recognisable but they have appeared in the voter list in the form they have been uploaded by voters. When voting, their identity can be cross-checked with other identities. The EC has authorised over 20 separate IDs,” Limbavali said while replying to Gandhi’s claim that there are 4,132 such voters.
‘Misuse’ of Form 6
Limbavali alleged Gandhi falsely claimed Shakun Rani was among 33,692 voters who “misused” Form 6 to be added to the voter list more than once.
“She is from Panipat and is living in Mahadevapura’s Purva apartments. She tried to add her name to the voters list with Form 6. She got no response for two months and then she applied again. When she checked the voter list subsequently, she found her name twice in the same booth,” he claimed.
“Gandhi has misguided people about this person saying she has voted twice. Who has marked her as voted twice in the same booth? It is on the BLA-marked roll of (the Congress),” he claimed. “When I checked the rolls with my BLA, we found Shakun Rani voted only once.”
‘Discrepancies’ in Congress seats
Pointing to records from the 2023 polls, Limbavali said there are several voters with “00” listed as their address in CM Siddaramaiah’s Varuna Assembly constituency under the Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha seat.
“In booth number 8 (in Varuna), there are so many voters with addresses as ‘00’… Are these also fake? If I am fake, then Siddaramaiah is also fake, as per Gandhi. It may be an input error in online systems. Please ask the EC why these mistakes are happening,” Limbavali said.
Limbavali also said there were bulk voters in seats won by the Congress. “In BTM Layout (a seat won by Congress minister Ramalinga Reddy), in booth number 100, in house number 1, there are over 90 people… I will not make any allegations… because it could be a mass accommodation or dormitory for workers. We cannot make allegations only on the basis of the numbers,” he said.
He claimed there were also “duplicate voters” in the Congress-held seats. “In Chamrajpet, Ayesha Bhanu’s name appears in booth number 45 as serial number 196, and also in booth 47 as serial number 763. Rahamatullah is a voter in Shivajinagar with double entry in booth number 169 as serial number 717, and booth number 11 as serial number 244,” the BJP leader alleged.