May 22nd 2024.
In the bustling city of New Delhi, a video began circulating amongst social media users. It showed a group of men standing on a goods carrier, allegedly holding Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in their hands. The person recording the video can be heard in the background claiming that the BJP was involved in an "EVM scam". The timing of the post suggested that it was related to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. However, upon further investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk discovered that the video was actually from the 2022 UP Assembly polls and the claims made were false.
The video was shared on Facebook by a user on May 16, along with a screenshot and links to the post. The PTI Fact Check Desk immediately ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found several keyframes. Upon further examination, they found multiple posts with similar claims. Some of these posts can be viewed and archived versions can be seen.
The video had also been widely shared on X. Upon browsing through the comments, the Desk noticed one that mentioned the video was old. This led them to conduct a keyword search on Google, where they came across a video uploaded on YouTube by the official channel of Oneindia News in March 2022. The description of the video stated that it was from the counting of votes for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, where the issue of EVMs had been brought up by the Samajwadi Party's chief, Akhilesh Yadav. This video was the extended version of the viral video and a comparison image was created to showcase the similarities.
Further investigation led the Desk to another post by the CEO Office, Uttar Pradesh, where they had issued a press release clarifying the incident. The caption of the post stated that the EVMs had been taken for training of counting officers in Varanasi district on March 8, 2022. The press release stated that they had been taken from storage in a separate food warehouse to the training ground at UP College. This prompted the Desk to conduct another keyword search, which led them to a report by the Times of India published on March 10, 2022, titled "Uttar Pradesh elections: Row over EVMs ends after clearance of ECI officials."
To summarize, the video of BJP workers allegedly taking away EVMs was actually from the 2022 UP Assembly polls and the EVMs were being used for training purposes. The claims made in the viral video were found to be false. It serves as a reminder to not believe everything we see on social media and to verify information before sharing it. This story was originally published by PTI and republished by OrissaPOST as part of the Shakti Collective.
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