After Rahul Gandhi's "vote chori" (vote theft) allegations in August 2025, videos spread on social media as proof of mass protests across India. The claim is misleading: the two clips Factly examined showed a May 2025 MGNREGA protest in Chhattisgarh and a December 2024 march over the BPSC exam.
Claim: Viral videos show large protests held across the country against "vote chori" after Rahul Gandhi's allegations.
Said by: Pro-opposition social media posts.
What the record shows: One video was a Congress march over MGNREGA jobs in Durg, Chhattisgarh, in May 2025. The other was a candle march in Delhi in December 2024 over the Bihar Public Service Commission exam. Factly
Where the claim came from
Claim · Rahul Gandhi On 7 August 2025 the Leader of Opposition alleged 1,00,250 "stolen" votes in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of Bengaluru Central in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The Week/PTI On 11 August nearly 300 opposition MPs marched towards the Election Commission's office and several were detained. Opposition parties also held protests in several states. Factly
Alongside genuine coverage, posts shared crowd videos captioned as "vote chori" protests sweeping the country. Factly did not name the accounts that shared them or give view counts. Factly
What the evidence shows
Documented First video. A reverse image search led to an Instagram post, and a longer version showed a board reading "Majdooron ko MNREGA mein rozgar karega" (labourers must be given work under MNREGA). News reports identified it as a May 2025 march by Durg district Congress workers in Chhattisgarh, led by District Rural Congress President Rakesh Thakur. It went from Rajiv Bhawan to the Durg Collector's office, passing the BJP office. Factly said it was "unrelated to the 'vote chori' issue." Factly
Second video. A reverse image search led to a December 2024 YouTube video by the channel "India News Bihar Jharkhand". It showed a candle march in Delhi against "normalisation" of marks in the Bihar Public Service Commission exam, and other users had shared it at the time as BPSC protests. Factly
Factly rated the posts misleading. It noted that "vote chori" protests did take place, but concluded that "these viral visuals are not related to the 'vote chori' protests." Factly
Context
The underlying dispute is real and continuing. Election Commission's position On 17 August 2025 CEC Gyanesh Kumar gave Gandhi seven days to file a signed affidavit: "Give an affidavit or apologise to the nation. There is no third option." The Week/PTI No independent fact-check of the Mahadevapura figures has been found. Fact-checkers have found recycled visuals on both sides of the voter-roll fight. The full record is on our SIR and CEC protests page.
Questions people ask
Were there real vote chori protests?
Yes. On 11 August 2025 nearly 300 opposition MPs marched towards the Election Commission, and protests were held in several states. The viral videos Factly checked were not from those protests.
What do the viral vote chori videos actually show?
A May 2025 Congress protest over MGNREGA work in Durg, Chhattisgarh, and a December 2024 candle march in Delhi over the BPSC exam.
What is "vote chori"?
It is the opposition's term for alleged manipulation of voter rolls, raised by Rahul Gandhi from August 2025. The Election Commission rejects the charge.
