In a significant development on Monday (October 13, 2025), the Supreme Court of India dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that called for a court-monitored investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into claims of electoral roll manipulation. These allegations were initially brought forth by the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, concerning voter lists in Bengaluru Central and other constituencies.
A Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi clarified that the petitioner was free to approach the Election Commission of India (ECI) for appropriate relief if they wished to pursue the matter further.
The counsel representing the petitioner, advocate Rohit Pandey, highlighted that a representation had already been made to the ECI, but no action had been taken. Despite this, the Bench declined to intervene directly or set a specific deadline for the ECI to decide on the representation, reiterating that the petitioner should utilize available legal remedies.
The petition had requested the Court to halt any further revisions or finalization of electoral rolls by the ECI until an independent audit could be completed. Furthermore, it sought directives for the poll body to publish electoral rolls in accessible, machine-readable, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR)-compliant formats to enhance public verification and scrutiny.
Referring to Mr. Gandhi’s press conference on August 7, the petition cited his allegation of a “huge criminal fraud” within the electoral process, purportedly involving “collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission.” The Congress leader had claimed that 1,00,250 “fake votes” were generated in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment, part of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, to secure a victory for the BJP. Mr. Gandhi outlined five methods by which this alleged vote chori (vote theft) was executed: duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, multiple voters registered at a single address, invalid photographs, and the misuse of Form 6.
Advocate Pandey emphasized the Supreme Court’s consistent stance that free and fair elections are a fundamental component of the Constitution’s basic structure, asserting that this principle could not be “diluted or subverted by any legislative or executive action.”
Following Mr. Gandhi’s remarks, the Chief Electoral Officers of Karnataka and Maharashtra requested him to provide detailed information on the allegedly “wrong” electors, along with a signed declaration, to enable the electoral authorities to initiate necessary proceedings. Subsequently, on August 17, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar issued a warning that Mr. Gandhi must submit an affidavit affirming his allegations within seven days or risk his claims being deemed baseless.
Mr. Pandey’s petition further urged the Supreme Court to establish binding guidelines for the Election Commission. These guidelines would aim to ensure greater transparency, accountability, and integrity in the preparation and maintenance of electoral rolls, including specific mechanisms for detecting and preventing duplicate or fictitious entries.
The petition stated that the petitioner had observed “grave irregularities in the electoral rolls of Bengaluru Central Parliamentary Constituency [Mahadevapura Assembly Constituency], which, on the face of it, warrant urgent consideration by this Court.”
It contended that any tampering with voter rolls directly undermines the constitutional guarantees of universal adult suffrage under Article 326 and the Election Commission of India’s mandate to conduct free and fair elections under Article 324. The petition further argued that such irregularities “directly infringe” Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, which safeguard equality before the law and the right to meaningful participation in democratic governance.
The petition also included alleged discrepancies from other states, claiming that in Maharashtra, nearly 3.9 million new voters were added to the rolls between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the lead-up to the Assembly polls. This represented a notable increase compared to approximately 5 million additions over the entire preceding five-year period.
Consequently, it had sought the establishment of a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by a retired Supreme Court judge to thoroughly investigate these allegations.