By Abdul Bari Masoud
Mansoor Ali Khan, the Congress candidate who narrowly lost the 2024 general election from Bangalore Central, claims that a significant number of fake voters in his constituency contributed to his defeat. He is currently collecting evidence to challenge the election results.
Bangalore Central, one of the three parliamentary seats in Karnataka’s capital, saw a tough battle between Mansoor and three-time BJP MP PC Mohan. Despite facing anti-incumbency, Mohan managed to secure his seat. Mansoor had significantly reduced Mohan’s victory margin from 70,968 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to 32,707 votes in 2024.
Initially leading by more than 80,000 votes, Mansoor’s position weakened around 2 PM as votes from CV Raman Nagar, Gandhinagar, and Mahadevapura were counted. Although the Election Commission of India’s website showed Mansoor in the lead until late afternoon, Mohan declared victory with a margin of 35,000-40,000 votes by 2 PM. Mohan eventually secured 6,58,915 votes against Mansoor’s 6,26,208, with NOTA taking third place with 12,126 votes.
Mansoor, 51, is the current secretary of the All India Congress Committee and in-charge of the Telangana Congress Committee. He was previously General Secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. A passionate educationist, he has established several educational institutions in Bangalore and other parts of Karnataka. He is the son of former Union Minister and Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, K. Rehman Khan.
In an interview with Radiance, Mansoor expressed gratitude for the support he received from his constituency. He attributed his unexpected defeat to the presence of up to 50,000 fake voters, registered in the assembly seats of his constituency over the past nine months. Mansoor is gathering evidence to challenge the election results, citing the unusually high voter registration in a short period.
Despite the Congress holding a majority of MLAs in his parliamentary constituency and three ministers in the Siddaramaiah cabinet, Mansoor believes communal polarization contributed to his loss. He also noted the late allocation of his ticket, only 20 days before the election, which hampered efforts to identify fraudulent voters.
Mansoor emphasized the overwhelming support from Muslims for Congress in Karnataka. However, the party’s decision to allocate only one ticket to a Muslim candidate in this election, compared to three in previous elections, was a contentious issue. Despite the Congress being in power in Karnataka, Mansoor acknowledged the occurrence of Islamophobic incidents in the state but assured that the government takes strict action in such cases.
Regarding the National Education Policy (NEP), Mansoor, an educationist, called for a comprehensive review, citing difficulties in implementation at the primary and higher education levels. He stressed the need for structural changes both at the federal level and within the policy itself, highlighting that the NEP, last updated in 1996, requires significant revision.
