BJP ex-MLA , son named prime accused in Karnataka voter fraud

The Karnataka Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) has named former BJP MLA S. Guttedar and his son Harshananda Guttedar as the prime accused in a voter fraud case linked to the 2023 Assembly election in Aland.

The first chargesheet, running over 22,000 pages, details what investigators describe as a systematic conspiracy to delete thousands of voters perceived as likely supporters of the rival Congress candidate.

Five others have been named as co-accused, and one arrest has been made so far. The Guttedars have secured anticipatory bail.

SIT still awaiting key data from EC

The investigation had stalled earlier this year after the Election Commission (EC) failed to supply crucial technical data, as first reported by The Hindu on 7 September 2025. After Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi publicly raised concerns, the Karnataka government constituted the SIT headed by Additional Director General of Police B.K. Singh.

SIT sources said Thursday’s filing is only the first chargesheet and more will follow once the EC provides the pending datasets. The team is now likely to seek court directions compelling the Commission to furnish the material.

Alleged conspiracy to delete voters

Guttedar, a four-time MLA who lost the 2023 contest to Congress’ B.R. Patil, allegedly hired Akram Pasha, who operated a call-centre-style firm in Kalaburagi, to identify voters believed to oppose him and delete their names from the electoral rolls. According to the chargesheet, the Guttedars had already marked suspected voters on the rolls.

When SIT teams raided premises linked to the family, investigators allege the accused had already attempted to burn and destroy evidence.

The SIT says Pasha was paid Rs 80 for every forged Form 7 application submitted to wrongfully remove a voter’s name. The Pasha-run network allegedly created fake login IDs on the National Voters’ Services Portal (NVSP) using credentials purchased from a website, otpbazar.online, operated by West Bengal-based Bapi Adya, who has since been arrested.

Nearly 6,000 deletions attempted

Using the fabricated NVSP accounts, Pasha, his brother Aslam Pasha and their relative Mohammed Ashfaq submitted 5,994 forged Form 7 applications between 12 December 2022 and 16 February 2023. Only 24 of the 6,018 Form 7 applications examined in Aland were found genuine.

Congress’ Mr. Patil—who went on to win the seat for the fourth time — was alerted after a booth-level officer found a deletion request filed in her own brother’s name, even though he had made no such application. A subsequent ground verification confirmed widespread fraud.

Seven accused have been charged under the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, forgery, impersonation, providing false information to a public servant and destruction of evidence, along with offences under the Information Technology Act, 2000 for identity theft.

Except Adya, who is under arrest, the remaining accused have been questioned but not detained.

With PTI inputs