Fact Check: Kanhaiya Kumar voted in both Bihar and Delhi elections? Here’s the truth
Two photos of Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar are being shared on social media with the claim that he voted in both the Bihar and Delhi elections.
By - M Ramesh Naik
Claim:Kanhaiya Kumar voted in Bihar in 2025 for the Assembly polls and also in Delhi during the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Fact:The claim is false. Kanhaiya Kumar did not vote in two places. The first image only shows him visiting polling booths as a Lok Sabha candidate in North East Delhi. In Bihar, he cast his vote in Begusarai, Bihar, just as he did in 2024.
Hyderabad: As the Bihar Assembly elections began, several prominent leaders, including RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, cast their votes early in the first phase held on November 6. Amid the political buzz, opposition parties accused BJP leaders of ‘double voting’ — casting votes in more than one state — calling it proof of election malpractice.
At the same time, several social media posts began circulating alleging that Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar also voted in both Delhi and Bihar.
An X user shared two photos of Kanhaiya Kumar showing the election ink with the caption, “First he voted in Delhi and today in Bihar. Wherever Kanhaiya goes, he votes there - forget contesting, he’ll defeat both Congress and the alliance!” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)
The first photo shows Kanhaiya in a red kurta with ink on his finger, while the second shows him in a white T-shirt also showing ink on his finger.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. Kanhaiya Kumar did not vote in the Delhi elections.
A reverse image search of the first photo (Kanhaiya in a red kurta) led to a live report by Amar Ujala titled, ‘Delhi Lok Sabha Election Live’ published on May 25, 2024.
At 3:54 pm, the report featured the same photo with the caption, “Kanhaiya Kumar inspected polling stations in Timarpur Assembly constituency along with MLA Dilip Pandey.” In 2024, Kanhaiya Kumar stood as the Congress candidate for the North East Delhi constituency.
This clearly indicates that Kanhaiya was visiting polling booths as a candidate from North East Delhi during the Lok Sabha elections, not voting there.
We also found the same image posted by Kanhaiya Kumar himself on X on May 25, 2024, with the caption, “Visited the booths of Timarpur with honorable MLA @dilipkpandey ji. Very positive signs are emerging. Despite the heat and long queues, people are enthusiastic to vote. Today, it’s the people’s turn to speak their mind.”
माननीय विधायक @dilipkpandey जी के साथ तिमारपुर के बूथों का दौरा किया। बहुत ही अच्छे संकेत मिल रहे हैं।गर्मी और लंबी कतारों के बावजूद जनता में वोट डालने के लिए बहुत जोश है। आज जनता की बारी है अपने मन की बात करने की। pic.twitter.com/16MisGvFzp
— Kanhaiya Kumar (@kanhaiyakumar) May 25, 2024
However, his right-hand index finger appeared to have faint ink marks as seen in the viral image.
Where did Kanhaiya vote in 2024?
To find out where Kanhaiya voted, we did a reverse image search and found an ANI post, dated May 13, 2024. The caption read, “#WATCH | Bihar: Congress candidate from North-East Delhi, Kanhaiya Kumar casts his vote at a polling booth in Begusarai. The constituency sees the contest between sitting MP-BJP candidate Giriraj Singh and CPI candidate Awadhesh Rai. #LokSabhaElections2024 (sic)”
#WATCH | Bihar: Congress candidate from North-East Delhi, Kanhaiya Kumar casts his vote at a polling booth in Begusarai. The constituency sees the contest between sitting MP-BJP candidate Giriraj Singh and CPI candidate Awadhesh Rai.#LokSabhaElections2024 pic.twitter.com/78holvi5FH
— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2024
This featured a video showing Kanhaiya Kumar casting his vote in Begusarai, Bihar. The video clearly shows ink applied to his right-hand index finger, confirming that he voted in Bihar during Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha polls.
Polling in Begusarai took place on May 13, 2024, while voting in Delhi was held 12 days later, on May 25. The ink seen in the Delhi photo had likely faded by then.
We did not find any reports stating that Kanhaiya voted in the Delhi elections.
Where did Kanhaiya vote in 2025?
A keyword search for the second photo (Kanhaiya in a white t-shirt) led us to a post made by Kanhaiya on November 6, where he wrote, “I have contributed to changing Bihar. Voted for education, health, jobs, and participation. You too vote for the Mahagathbandhan to change Bihar.”
मैंने बिहार को बदलने में अपना योगदान किया,शिक्षा, सेहत, नौकरी और भागीदारी के लिए मतदान किया, आप भी बिहार को बदलने के लिए “ महागठबंधन ” को वोट कीजिए, बिहार को लूटने वालों पर चोट कीजिए। pic.twitter.com/kvPJsXozoV
— Kanhaiya Kumar (@kanhaiyakumar) November 6, 2025
We also found an ANI report, dated November 6, which stated that Kanhaiya Kumar cast his vote in Begusarai, Bihar.
This confirms that the second photo is from the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections.
The viral photos claiming that Kanhaiya Kumar voted in both the Bihar and Delhi elections are false.
The red kurta photo shows him visiting booths as a candidate during the Lok Sabha elections in North East Delhi on May 25, 2024. The white t-shirt photo is from November 6, when he voted in Bihar during the Assembly elections.
Hence, the claim is false.
