Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being widely shared on several social media platforms including WhatsApp. The video featured ballot rigging inside a polling booth and it was claimed along with the video that the incident occurred in the constituency of Asaduddin Owaisi in Bahadurpura, Hyderabad. During the investigation we found the viral video to be old and now being circulated with false claims.
Claim:
X user @HinduRajeshmani shared the viral video on his profile.
Check the archive version of the post.
Other users too are sharing the viral video.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by uploading the video in the InVid tool and running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the same.
Through reverse image search we found that the video was shared on the internet in the year 2022.
Through reverse image search on another keyframe we found that the video was posted by BJP West Bengal’s official X handle.
The video uploaded on February 27, 2022 mentioned that the video features TMC supporters.
Through the reverse image search we also found the video uploaded on CPIM West Bengal‘s Facebook page which was a fan page.
The caption said (translation): Share and spread the video of peaceful municipality of Bengal….
This indicated that the video is from municipal corporation elections in West Bengal.
By running a reverse image search on another keyframe we found the video uploaded on editorji.com.
The report said translation: Allegation of fake vote at Lakeview School in South Dumdum, watch video
We then ran a keyword search on YouTube about the same and found a video uploaded by TV9 Bangla two years ago.
The caption said (translation): Voting for Ward No. 33 of South Dum Dum Municipality is going on at Lakeview School. The agent himself stopped the voters and pressed the button on the EVM. Watch that video.
We also found a tweet on the X handle of Chief Electoral Officer Telangana.
The caption said: An OLD video purportedly depicting rigging during Parliament elections in Telangana is being circulated on WhatsApp. The video is NOT from Telangana. For more facts, please go through the press note – CEO Telangana
Conclusion: Old video from 2022 of vote rigging in West Bengal municipal elections being widely shared as recent from Telangana. Viral claims are false.
