'Rahul Gandhi Put My Life On Display': RaGa's ‘Vote Theft’ Charge Backfires As Gurkirat Singh Dang Breaks Silence, Calls It ‘Just Politics’

“Yeh dekhiye Gurkirat Singh Dang. Inka naam booth number 116, 124, 125, 126. Chaar baar...” (Look here at Gurkirat Singh Dang. His name appears four times in booth numbers 116, 124, 125, and 126.)

That was Leader of Opposition and Raebareli MP Rahul Gandhi while addressing a press conference on alleged vote theft in Bengaluru on 7 August 2025. He was using Dang's example in support of his case.

After announcing the booth numbers where Dang's name appears, Gandhi went on to disclose Dang's personal details available on his voter ID, including his parents' names and address.

“Chaar baar aata hai. Aur yeh sirf ek vyakti nahin, hazaaron vyakti hain,” Gandhi said. (It [Dang's name] appears four times. And this is not just one person, there are thousands like this.)

Rahul Gandhi's argument was that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took the lead in the Mahadevpura Assembly segment in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency through such and other allegedly fraudulent means, and that the party, in collusion with the Election Commission, has been doing this across India.

Swarajya spoke with Gurkirat Singh Dang, the man whose example Gandhi cited in his press conference. Dang categorically denies any electoral malpractice and explains how he mistakenly became the owner of four voter IDs on the same day.

The conversation has been edited for readability.

Swarajya: Where were you when you first heard that Rahul Gandhi had taken your name and displayed your voter ID in front of national media?

Dang: I was out of town, and I got to know only when my relatives started reaching out to my parents and me. Usually, I do not follow Rahul Gandhi. (Even if I was in town) I would not have seen the live stream. So it was only when the relatives called that I knew.

S: If you do not mind me asking, what do you do otherwise?

D: I do not mind, but I do not know how people will take it because I had to bring down all my social media accounts and everything. I am a yoga teacher, and I was an IT professional earlier.

I have been teaching yoga for around 10 years now.

S: In Bengaluru itself?

D: In Bengaluru, yes.

S: You were born and brought up in Bengaluru? Or did you shift to the city later on?

D: I shifted to Bangalore with my grandparents around 11–12 years ago and my family is back in Punjab. My father, mother, and sister all live in Punjab.

S: I am assuming you shifted with the job?

D: Yes. I have been living here with my maternal grandparents.

S: And you have been living in this Mahadevpura Assembly constituency all along?

D: Yes. It has been the same house all these years.

S: How did the four voter ID cards come to be?

D: It was before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. It was the first time ever that I thought I should vote. There were also a lot of promotions about the importance of voting. So that is when I applied for a voter ID. I thought rather than going through the agents that help you apply, I would do it myself because they were saying that it was much easier and faster and anybody could do it.

After I applied, it (EC website) said that an officer was assigned who would carry out some checks. I was expecting that they would come and verify if this person lives here and then they would issue the voter ID. But no one came and just like that my application showed a 'rejection'.

So then I raised another request that got rejected again. I applied three more times and in all got four rejections. After the third attempt I thought maybe I was adding my father's name (in the relative category) and that was the problem. So I put in my mother's name the fourth time.

But then the same thing happened (rejection message). I would have given more time between all four applications if the elections were not close by. I remember elections were very close and I wanted to make sure I had a voter ID before the elections. So as soon as one rejection came, I immediately applied again and again.

And then one day, four voter ID cards were printed and sent home.

S: And before these four cards were delivered, you did not get any mail, message, or call from the ECI saying they had got four applications from you, or that they were sending you four cards?

D: No.

D: Same day, but not the same package. Four different envelopes arrived on the same day.

From the four I picked one and decided to use that, and the rest of the three I destroyed the same day and threw them in the dustbin. Then I got to know that there is a Form 7 that you need to apply with (for deletion of voter ID), which I remember fairly well I did.

I say 'fairly' because after Rahul Gandhi went live with my name and everything, I tried it again and it felt very familiar. So I remember that I did fill the form. But there is no email I have that I can show for it.

I think my fault was that I did not follow up on the cancellation of the extra three cards. I thought that online systems are better these days. Also, I come from an IT background, so I thought maybe sometimes it takes longer for these things and that ultimately they would delete the extra entries. It is only now that I have come to know that all four are still in my name.

It has been like a roller coaster ride for my parents. Parents still understand, I think, but it becomes really challenging for the grandparents when the media and officials and everybody are standing outside the door.

S: Do you know of any other friends or relatives who have had more than one voter ID?

D: Honestly, no. But from what I understand, this happens to a lot of people.

S: India's electoral rolls are never fully clean. Duplications and errors are inevitable as people move, pass away, or relocate between revisions. Such cases may run into lakhs, but they do not automatically translate into fraud. Nor do they make election verdicts illegitimate.

D: Yes. All of this just feels like politics, which is okay, but he (Rahul Gandhi) could have conveyed the point he wanted to convey even without bringing my name out and without making my address public. Now all that information is out in the open.

The Constitution of India gives me the right to privacy and somebody who is a politician who is supposed to stand by the rights of the citizens is ready to bypass them. So I do not know how this makes him a good politician.

S: Before Rahul Gandhi's press conference, did anyone from the local Congress office or from the central office of the Congress reach out to you for verification?

D: No, not at all.

S: Nothing through mail, SMS, WhatsApp? No attempt whatsoever?

D: No.

I may be wrong or overcritical here, but when I checked the names (that Rahul Gandhi mentioned in his press conference), I realised they were all people not native to the state (Karnataka). So it feels like intentionally choosing people who are not able to speak the native language. There is a low chance of them garnering local support in any considerable measure.

Also, all those names were Hindu. It just felt like they were trying to prove that the BJP is Hindu-centric and hence Hindus are doing bogus voting in the party's favour.

S: BJP took the lead in Mahadevpura, yes, but how does Rahul Gandhi know that you voted for the party?

D: Exactly. Who is to say I did not vote for Congress? So yes. It looks like there has been some profiling.

S: As we speak, where do you stand? Are you in touch with the Commission to have the extra names struck off the list?

D: Yes, I am in touch with the Election Commission. I have written to them. As soon as this happened, within a day I wrote emails to the District Collector and the Election Commission. Then I wrote another email to the Police Commissioner of Bengaluru.

S: And after this happened, did someone from the Congress contact you?

D: Nobody, but certain news channels did contact me. They took interviews but nobody went live. I was waiting for somebody to post my side of the story but nothing came.

And that was the only reason I made a video and I asked my sister to post it.

S: Did someone from the BJP speak to you after this?

D: No.

But I did reach out to a few lawyers thinking that somebody might want to help. Then I realised that even if I file a proper complaint and a case against Rahul Gandhi or the Congress government or whoever it is supposed to be against, one, I do not have the money to fight. Two, I do not know how to go about it. So even if I want to go ahead with that, I have no clue.

S: Ten to fifteen years from now, this will be the event they will talk about in your family gatherings and family functions.

D: Yes, people are already bringing it up in family gatherings, and I fear this incident will always remain a bitter memory for years to come.