Bengaluru Court Grants Bail to Prakash Raj in Voter ID Case

Bengaluru: A city court on Friday granted conditional bail to multilingual actor Prakash Raj in a criminal case arising from a private complaint alleging he illegally possessed four voter identity cards registered at different locations.

A non-bailable warrant (NBW) had been issued against him in connection with the case.

On Friday, Raj appeared before the judge of the 48th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court here and, through his lawyer, requested that the warrant be recalled.

After considering the submissions, the judge granted the actor conditional bail, directing him to furnish a cash security of Rs 4,000.

Raj's advocate told the court that his client had not yet been served with the warrant. He appeared before the court voluntarily based on reports published in the media.

The city court re-issued an NBW against Raj on June 12 in connection with his name allegedly figuring in four different electoral rolls in three states, including Karnataka, based on a petition by a city based advocate K Dilip Kumar.

The case stems from the actor contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Bengaluru Central constituency.

Complainant Kumar alleged in his 2023 petition that besides being enrolled as a voter in the Shantinagar assembly segment in the city, Prakash Raj's name figured at two places-- at the Velachery assembly constituency in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and in the Serilingam Pally Assembly segment in Telangana.

The complainant stated that he had approached the jurisdictional police station in April 2019 but no action was taken. He later approached the court, which took up the matter in 2023.

On August 1, 2025 the court took cognizance "for the offences punishable under Sections 31 and 125(A) of Representation of the People Act, 1950." It directed issuing summons.

Since then, the case was heard and summons were issued. When the actor did not turn up, the NBWs were issued.