On 07 August 2025, Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi held a press conference, accusing the Election Commission of manipulating the voter list and calling it “vote chori.” Since then, the opposition has rallied together, criticising both the Commission and the BJP government.
In response, the Election Commission of India, during a press conference on 17 August 2025, rejected Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” allegations and dismissed claims of any irregularities in the special intensive revision exercise in poll-bound Bihar.
Amidst this controversy, a video showing people throwing black flags at an SUV is circulating on social media (here, here, and here), with claims that it depicts a protest against the ‘vote chori’ issue targeting BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. Let’s verify the truth behind the video in this article.
Claim: Video of a protest over the ‘vote chori’ issue directed at BJP MP Kangana Ranaut.
Fact: The video does not show protests against BJP MP Kangana Ranaut over the ‘vote chori’ issue. It shows Congress leader Jagat Singh Negi facing protests from BJP workers during his visit to disaster-hit areas in Seraj, Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh, on 25 July 2025. No credible reports were found of Kangana Ranaut facing any such protests. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the claim, we performed a Google keyword search to check if BJP MP Kangana Ranaut had recently faced protests over the ‘vote chori’ issue. No credible media reports were found confirming such an incident.
A reverse image search of key frames from the viral video led us to multiple social media posts from July 2025 (here, here) (archive). These posts claimed that the person in the video is Himachal Pradesh Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi (archive), who faced protests from BJP workers during his visit to disaster-affected areas in the Seraj constituency.
A Google keyword search using relevant keywords led us to video reports by News18 Virals, published on YouTube on 26 July 2025, featuring the same video. The report stated that Minister Jagat Singh Negi of the Congress faced protests in Seraj, Mandi district, on 25 July 2025, where demonstrators waved black flags and confronted his convoy.
According to reports (here, here, and here), the protests took place in Janjehli village, where BJP workers led by Mandal President Bhishma Thakur raised “Go-Back” slogans and hurled shoes and flags at Negi’s vehicle. Following the incident, police registered FIRs against around 62 individuals. Himachal CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu later condemned the act, calling the behaviour of BJP workers towards the minister unfortunate.
To sum up, a video of a Congress leader facing protests in Himachal Pradesh is falsely shared as a protest against BJP MP Kangana Ranaut over the ‘vote chori’ issue.
