Nearly a billion Indians are voting to elect a new government in six-week parliamentary elections that began on April 19, the world’s biggest democratic exercise.
AFP found no news of electoral fraud by Owaisi’s supporters in Telangana, where voting in all 17 constituencies wrapped on May 13 (archived link).
However, the video spread in similar posts on Facebook and so on social media platform X.
West Bengal Video
A reverse image and keyword search on Google found the video posted on YouTube in February 2022 – two years before India’s parliamentary elections begin (archived link).
According to the YouTube video description, the incident took place in the Indian state of West Bengal, not Telangana.
“WB Municipal Elections (West Bengal) 2022,” reads the Bengali title of the video posted by news channel TV9 Bangla.
“At booth No. 108 in Ward No. 33 of South Dumdum, the voter did not vote, the agent voted.”
The caption of the video and text overlay reads: “Instead of voters, an election agent is voting at an EVM (electronic voting machine) center.
TV9 Bangla reported that a polling agent voted in place of a citizen at a school polling station at Lake View School in the Indian town of South Dumdum (archived link).
He said the incident happened in full view of an election official.
Political parties in West Bengal express outrage in the apparent electoral fraud in X posts (archived here It is here).
Meanwhile, the Hyderabad city police posted about your official account on X that the video did not show fraud during the 2024 elections (archived link).
Telangana Chief Electoral Officer also refuted the statement in a press release (archived link).
“It is hereby indicated that this is an OLD VIDEO, NOT linked to the parliamentary elections in Telangana or any other election in Telangana,” he said.
“The electoral process in the state was conducted in a free and fair manner.”
AFP debunked other misinformation related to Indian elections here.
