The Election Commission of India (ECI) was quick to tag as ‘misleading’ the allegations raised by Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi regarding creation of fake votes in Mahadevapura Assembly segment in Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency. However, hours after the press conference, the ECI has not bothered to explain the anomalies in the electoral roll, including the presence of voters with multiple Electronic Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC).
While the ECI has requested proof from Rahul, the voters with multiple EPIC numbers that he mentioned in his press conference could still be found on the ECI’s own website.
EPIC number is a unique 10-digit alphanumeric series allotted to voters by the election commission.
Rahul, in his press conference, has raised the issue of voters, including two in Mahadevapura constituency—Gurkirat Singh Dang, a 27-year-old man, and Shakun Rani, a 71-year-old woman.
The four EPIC numbers of Gurkirat–SVF1125525, SVF1124312, SVF1124627, and SVF1123017–and two of Shakun–SVF9891102 and SVF9928896–can still be seen in the ECI website.
While Government Higher Primary School, Kannamangala, has been marked as a polling station in one ID of Gurkirat, Government Higher Primary School, Sheegehalli, is the polling station for the rest of the three. Shakun, with two EPIC numbers, has Navaprajna Public School, Munnekolalu, mentioned as her polling booth.
In the press meet, Rahul presented Shakun Rani's case as an example of double voting. Rahul shared a list ticked by booth level agents to show that Shakun, or someone in her name, had cast her vote using the two IDs.
According to Rahul, Shakun filed her application using Form 6 as a first time voter. Though Rahul said it is ironic that a 71-year-old is registering as a new voter, Form 6 can also be used to shift constituencies. Shakun, as per the evidence presented by Rahul, has filed applications twice—on September 13, 2023 and October 31, 2023.
A few months ago, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised allegations of multiple voters with the same EPIC numbers. Following this, ECI announced a major drive, promising to resolve duplication with its unique EPIC numbers.
Later, in May 2025, the ECI came up with the claim that it resolved the issue after checking its entire database of 99 crore electors.
However, last week, amid the controversies around special intensive revision (SIR), Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav alleged that he couldn't find his name in the draft electoral rolls. It was later found out that Tejashwi's name was listed under two EPIC numbers. ECI has begun a probe into this.
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