A video allegedly from the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra, where voting was held on April 19, 2024 — first phase of the elections, is widely shared on social media. The video shows a man shouting slogans against electronic voting machines (EVMs) at a polling booth, where an EVM painted with blue ink is visible. Policemen present at the booth forcibly pick up the man and take him to a police vehicle.
The video is shared on Facebook with a caption: “नागपुर में इस बंदे ने ईवीएम मशीन पर स्याही फेंक कर ईवीएम के खिलाफ की नारेबाजी” (English version: see below.)
Here’s the link to the above post. (Archive)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found it to be MISLEADING.
Running the viral video keyframes through Reverse Image Search, the NM team traced news reports containing a screenshot of the viral video in October 2019. The incident took place at a polling booth during the Maharashtra assembly elections 2019. The person seen in the video is Bahujan Samaj Party leader Sunil Khambe, who went to a polling booth in Thane and threw ink on the EVM.
Searching further, we found a report from Aaj Tak stating that the incident took place on October 21, 2019 at a polling booth near the Civil Hospital in Thane City. The BSP leader Sunil Khambe, protesting against the use of EVMs, threw ink on an EVM and shouted slogans ‘EVM machine murdabad’. The police present at the spot arrested Khambe. At that time, the news agency ANI had tweeted a longer version of the viral video and published an article about it.
Thus, it is evident from the above information that a video from 2019 of a man throwing ink on an EVM is falsely linked to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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