Why numbers misleading in Mahadevapura’s floating migrant hub

But, in the narrow alleys and roads behind the main streets, still lie the remnants of the villages – now holding a mass of lodging facilities, from pucca houses to tin sheds, housing the hundreds of migrant workers employed in services allied to the tech sector. They include food delivery agents, hotel staff, housekeeping personnel, domestic workers, waste disposal agents and construction workers.

According to Gandhi, over 1 lakh entries in the electoral rolls of Mahadevapura for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were dubious – either because the names were registered in multiple constituencies, or had fake addresses, or had submitted invalid photographs at the time of registration.

One of the charges made by him was of “bulk voters at a single address”, mentioning 10,452 allegedly in such category – including 46 voters at House No. 791 in Marathahalli Booth No. 366; 68 at House No. 153 (at brewery 153 Biere Street) in Vinayaka Nagar Booth No. 243; and 80 voters at House No. 35 of Munireddy Garden Booth No. 470.

The Indian Express visited the above three addresses mentioned by Gandhi, and found that each corresponded with spaces where a large number of migrants live or work. However, none of the 194 people whom Gandhi mentioned as staying at these addresses with names in the electoral rolls now lives there, as per the caretakers or managers.

The Mahadevapura constituency was won by the BJP in the 2023 Assembly polls and also facilitated the party’s win in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

House No. 791, Marathahalli: 46 voters

Locating the address, falling on ‘5th Main Road’, in an area behind the now demolished Tulasi Talkies in Marathahalli, is difficult. The buildings here, serving as paying guest facilities, food canteens or low-cost restaurants for migrants – from those starting at the lowest rung in IT companies to gig workers – don’t sport any numbers upfront.

An elderly couple who have been residents for 30 years at a House No. 791, also on ‘5th Main Road’, reveal that a paying guest facility called Akshaya PG for men operates from a building also called House No. 791.

Running now for over a decade, the Akshaya PG has 25 rooms which can house 75 people at a time. The place is popular mainly with Telugu-speaking workers employed in food delivery services, on account of its owners and caretakers being Telugu speakers, who offer Andhra food. A 2020 electricity bill for the building housing Akshaya PG suggests the owner is Nagaraja Reddy.

The online listing for Akshaya PG identifies it as a ‘Boys Hostel’, located at 791, 5th Cross Road of Marathahalli village, charging Rs 4,500 per month without TV and Rs 5,000 per month with TV. “Best for Andhra people” says an online review from 2018.

Of the 46 names listed by Gandhi as registered to House No. 791 in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls list, the Akshaya PG caretaker, Madhav Rao, says: “None of them lives here any more. They all moved out during Covid. We see a lot of paying guests. Some stay for a couple of months, others for about a year. Very few stay for long periods.”

Incidentally, a majority of the 46 mentioned by Gandhi are also of Andhra origin.

“Paying guests keep moving in and out here. Some of them obtain voter ID cards to secure employment,” says a tailor at a small store located next to Akshaya PG.

“I have a house with three rooms that has been rented out to a hotel group. Twenty people live there. The presence of many voters at the same address does not necessarily mean fake votes,” says Mohan Kumar, a local store owner.

House No. 153, Vinayaka Nagar: 68 voters

Property number 153 is located in the Whitefield area of Bengaluru, with a European-styled brewery called ‘153 Biere Street’, spread over more than an acre, running from its premises. The property also has a small shopping plaza, with several luxury stores.

Speaking about the number of voters registered at House No. 153 in the electoral roll, Gandhi said: “68 voters in 153 Biere Club. Can 68 people really live in a brewery?”

Two separate managers at the brewery suggest that the names may be of former workers at 153 Biere Street. “None of these people are working here now. The management has recently changed and most of the staff are new,” Suraj, one of the managers, says.

“We are a commercial establishment and we do not give out voter ID cards. We ask staff for Aadhaar and PAN as proof of identity,” adds Praveen V, the general manager of the brewery.

House No. 35, Munireddy Garden: 80 voters

Munireddy Garden is located at the end of a small road, a short distance from the sprawling Ecoworld and Ecospace tech parks. A majority of the properties here are in the names of local landlords from the Reddy community of Andhra Pradesh, and many have been converted into paying guest facilities or have rows of single rooms rented out to migrant workers.

House No. 35 lies at the end of a row of 35 houses owned by Jayaram Reddy, all rented to migrant workers. The tiny rooms with attached toilets can accommodate two-three persons each and are rented out for Rs 3,000 per month.

The current tenant at No. 35 is a migrant worker from West Bengal, who has been living at the facility for two months. His name does not figure in the Mahadevapura voters’ list as he arrived only recently, says caretaker Suresh Kumar, who lives nearby.

“We do not know why there are 80 names in the voters’ list for House No. 35 alone. We have a high churn of people renting and leaving the rooms. Many of the names in the 2024 voters’ list are of people who lived here before Covid. The place emptied out during Covid,” says the caretaker.

According to the caretaker, the tenants need a copy of the electricity bill and an ID for employment.

Local BJP leader and former Mahadevapur MLA Aravind Limbavali told The Indian Express: “We checked and found that only six among the 80 voters listed at House No. 35 actually voted.”

About Gandhi’s claim regarding House No. 153 in Vinayaka Nagar, he said: “Sixty-eight workers are shown as voters at the address since they were given common accommodation at a dormitory. Only two of the 68 voted in the 2024 polls… All of Rahul Gandhi’s allegations are far from the truth. No illegalities have occurred in Mahadevapura. We won legitimately. Our party has seen natural growth. Rahul Gandhi should realise this.”

A changing Mahadevapura

On paper, Mahadevapura appears to have seen an unnatural growth in voter numbers, from 2.75 lakh in the 2008 Assembly elections to 6.6 lakh in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, an increase of 140%. The Assembly segment in Bangalore Central with the second-highest increase in electorate, Sarvagnanagar, saw only a 26.5% rise in this time – from 3.05 lakh in 2008 to 3.86 lakh in 2024.

The growth of voters in other Assembly segments of Bangalore Central was in the same range – Shanti Nagar 25.2%; C V Raman Nagar 23.1%; Shivajinagar 19.8%; Rajaji Nagar 13.7%; Chamrajpet 12.6%; and Gandhi Nagar 3%.

At the same time, the number of properties in Mahadevpura more than doubled between 2016-17 and 2023-24 – from 1.48 lakh to 3.59 lakh. The region now contributes Rs 885 crore in tax revenues to the city, compared to Rs 361 crore in 2016-17. In addition, the region has 1.5 lakh properties under gram panchayats.

The BJP has won the Mahadevapura Assembly and Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seats on all four occasions since the new Mahadevapura constituency was created in 2008. Like in 2024, the Lok Sabha poll win for the BJP in Bangalore Central in 2019 was facilitated by the huge leads the party secured in Mahadevapura, despite losing ground in other segments.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, BJP votes in the Mahadevapura segment increased by 47,901 from the 2023 Assembly elections; the Congress’s dipped by 21,744.