The order was passed by the 48th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Bengaluru City, on a private complaint filed by K. Dileep Kumar, a Sheshadripuram resident and advocate. The complaint alleges irregularities in electoral registration and claims that Raj was enrolled as a voter in more than one constituency, including entries linked to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
Raj has rejected the allegations circulating online, describing them as fabricated. In a social media post on Sunday, he accused unnamed critics of “cooking up fake news” and spreading it, saying they appeared to have been hurt by his public positions. His response came after posts and reports on the warrant began gaining traction across social media platforms.
The complaint centres on the legal bar against multiple voter enrolments. Electoral law permits a citizen to be enrolled as a voter in only one constituency. Sections 17 and 18 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 prohibit registration in more than one electoral roll and registration more than once in the same constituency. Election authorities also require voters shifting residence to apply for deletion or transfer through prescribed forms rather than retaining multiple entries.
The case has gained attention partly because Raj contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Bengaluru Central as an Independent candidate. His nomination details then listed him as a voter in the Shanthinagar Assembly segment. The complaint alleges that declarations linked to that electoral contest require scrutiny in view of the claimed existence of multiple voter identity records.
A non-bailable warrant does not amount to a finding of guilt. It is a coercive process used by a court to secure the presence of an accused or respondent when ordinary summons or bailable warrants are considered insufficient or have not secured appearance. The next stage will depend on execution of the warrant, appearance before the court, and any application moved by Raj or his legal team to recall or challenge the order.
The episode comes at a politically charged time for Raj, who has frequently criticised the ruling establishment and has spoken on issues ranging from electoral accountability to communal politics and civic freedoms. His “Just Asking” campaign made him one of the most visible celebrity voices in public debate after the 2017 killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru. His sharp interventions have also made him a target of political attacks and online campaigns.
Raj, born Prakash Rai, is among the most recognisable actors across Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi cinema. He has won multiple National Film Awards and has built a parallel public identity as a producer, director and activist. His entry into electoral politics in 2019 did not produce a victory, but it expanded his profile beyond cinema into issue-based public campaigning.
The voter identity allegation also lands amid wider concern over duplicate entries and roll accuracy. Election authorities have intensified clean-up drives in several states, using field verification, booth-level checks and database matching to identify dead, shifted, absent and duplicate voters. Duplicate Electoral Photo Identity Card numbers have separately been flagged as an administrative legacy issue, distinct from a person deliberately holding multiple valid enrolments.
Legal experts usually draw a distinction between duplicate EPIC numbers caused by administrative error and deliberate multiple enrolment by an elector. The former may be corrected through electoral roll revision, while the latter can trigger legal consequences if false declarations or intentional concealment are proved. The complaint against Raj will therefore hinge on the authenticity of the alleged records, whether they correspond to the same person, and whether any false declaration was knowingly made.
