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Four voter IDs, one name: ECI’s own data seems to support Congress allegations of voter irregularity in Bengaluru

Congress said that over one lakh fraudulent entries were discovered in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment alone, fundamentally undermining the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Bangalore Central.

Sumit Jha

Published Aug 07, 2025 | 10:17 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 20, 2025 | 9:48 PM

Four voter IDs, one name: ECI’s own data seems to support Congress allegations of voter irregularity in Bengaluru

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of failing to safeguard the sanctity of the vote.

Synopsis: A 27-year-old man appears four times in the electoral rolls of Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura Assembly constituency, each time under a different voter ID number, according to public records reviewed by South First. The Congress, earlier on Thursday, had alleged a broad pattern of electoral fraud involving over one lakh suspect entries, including unverifiable addresses, duplicate registrations, and irregularities in photographic identification in the same segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 

A 27-year-old man named Gurkirat Singh Dang appears four times in the electoral rolls of the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Bengaluru, with each entry assigned a different voter ID number.

A review of public records available on the Election Commission’s website by South First found that Gurkirat Singh Dang has been issued four distinct EPIC numbers: SVF1123017, SVF1124312, SVF1124627, and SVF1125525.

All entries list him as a 27-year-old male. The names of relatives (either Ranbir Singh or Gurjit Kaur) appear across the records, with minor changes in part numbers and polling station assignments. All four entries fall within the same assembly segment, 174 Mahadevapura.

A review of public records available on the Election Commission’s website by South First found that Gurkirat Singh Dang has been issued four distinct EPIC numbers.

The Congress party says this is not an isolated case but part of a widespread pattern of electoral fraud. At a press conference on Thursday, 7 August, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of failing to safeguard the sanctity of the vote. “The foundation of the Constitution is the vote. Vote has been destroyed,” he said.

These allegations, dubbed “vote chori” or vote theft, have ignited a fierce political debate, with Congress claiming that over one lakh fraudulent entries were discovered in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment alone, fundamentally undermining the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Bangalore Central and beyond.

The party, citing an internal review, said over one lakh questionable entries were identified within Mahadevapura alone. Among these:

  • 40,009 entries were tied to fake or unverifiable addresses, including placeholders such as “0” or vague locality names.
  • 10,452 entries were registered to single addresses, including one case listing 68 voters at “153 Biere Club,” a commercial brewery.
  • 4,132 voters were found with invalid or poor-quality photographs, making verification difficult.
  • 33,692 allegedly suspicious entries were processed through Form 6 (intended for new voter registrations).

One case highlighted was that of Shakun Rani, a 70-year-old woman allegedly registered twice within two months. According to the Congress, she voted in both instances using slightly different names and photographs.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi to lead protest in Bengaluru against ‘votes theft’ on Friday – what to expect

Allegations of cross-state duplication

The Congress party has also alleged cross-state voter duplication involving two individuals, Aditya Srivastava and Vishal Singh, as part of what it claims is a coordinated effort to inflate electoral rolls across constituencies.

At the press conference, Rahul Gandhi stated that Srivastava was registered simultaneously in Mumbai, Lucknow, and Bengaluru, while Singh appeared in both Bengaluru and Varanasi.

These claims, the party said, were based on searches conducted on the Election Commission of India’s website as of 16 March 2025.

However, verification attempts using the EPIC numbers provided by the party on the day of the press conference showed no such duplications.

Aditya Srivastava, under EPIC number FPP6437040, was found only in Booth No. 458 of the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Bangalore Urban, with no matching entries in either Mumbai or Lucknow.

Similarly, Vishal Singh, associated with EPIC number INB2722288, appeared solely in Booth No. 513 of the same constituency, and no record of him was found in Varanasi.

These findings have cast doubt on specific examples cited by the Congress.

“Their names are not listed in the voter rolls of Assembly Constituency 173, Lucknow East, or in Assembly Constituency 390, Varanasi Cantt,” the Chief Electoral Officer Uttar Pradesh said in a statement on X. “Therefore, the facts presented regarding Uttar Pradesh are not correct.”

However, journalist and fact checker Abhishek found that the data from the Elections Commission website on the date that Rahul Gandhi cited did indeed back up the Leader of Opposition’s claims.

“Rahul Gandhi mentioned that screenshots from ECI website were dated 16 March 2025. But, Uttar Pradesh CEO cleverly said that while searching the names of Aditya Srivastava (FPP6437040) & Vishal Singh (INB2722288) on the ECI website on 7 August 2025, they didn’t find them in UP,” he wrote in a post on X.

It suggests that the Election Commission may have altered the data following the allegations.

Despite the volume of data presented, the Election Commission has yet to initiate an independent inquiry. Some of the allegations have been summarily dismissed without a full review of the voter data cited.

(Edited by Dese Gowda)

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