A video showing a group of men accusing some Indian Army personnel of canvassing votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections is being shared widely on social media. Sharing this video, a user on X claims that BJP has deployed Indian Army to seek votes for itself in these elections.
In the post provided above, the user has shared a video in which we can see a group of men arguing with some Indian Army personnel. The men can be seen accusing the army personnel of coercing voters to vote for the BJP. They also allege that an army truck full of bogus voters has arrived to cast fake votes for the BJP. The user provides the following caption about the incident:
“BIG BREAKING
Army is being used by the BJP to cast fake votes.
INDIAN ARMY
has been assigned to do ILLEGAL & FRAUDULENT work for the BJP.
Caught RED handed inside the Election Booths to influence voters for FAKE Votes to theBJP”
However, when we investigated the video, we found that the video is 5 years old and has no relation with the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Additionally, the Indian Army had refuted these claims back when it surfaced for the first time in 2019. Here’s the fact-check.
Fact Check
We did a Google reverse image search on the screenshots of the viral video. From the reverse image search, we found that the viral video is old. We found the video on a YouTube channel named Shan E Kashmir, posted on 2 May 2019.
We did a Google search using relevant keywords and found a fact-check report by The Quint. In this report, published by The Quint on 1st May 2019, quotes a statement by the Indian Army. The Indian Army categorically denied the allegations and clarified as follows: “The allegations are complete falsehood. The individuals had rung up Commandant when they were videographed and he told them not to get into any altercation and exercise their right of franchise and get back peacefully.”
The reported statement by the army also explained that 1386 application of all ranks were applied by the centre to the ECI as General Voter ID cards out of which 1304 voted. The army also clarified that the heavy vehicles were used to facilitate transport of the army personnel and their families. A report published by ANI, on 2nd May 2019, states that the incident happened in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Army officials posted in cantonment filed a complaint against some miscreants who tried to snatch their General voter ID cards and obstructed them from voting.
The complaint letter says that, on 29 April 2019, day of voting for Parliamentary Elections, soldiers and their spouses of the Grenadiers Regimental Centre proceeded to cast their votes on a bona fide transport viz Army vehicle at Booth no 146, Swami Vivekananda Higher Secondary School, Katanga, Jabalpur. At booth no 146 when the soldiers of the Indian Army were in the process of exercising their right to vote, certain miscreants approached and snatched their voter identity cards by using criminal force and tried to obstruct them from casting their votes.
Conclusion
The video being shared on social media, alleging that Indian army personnel were canvassing for the BJP, is an old video and is not related to the ongoing elections. The Indian Army had clarified back in 2019 that the video was recorded by certain miscreants who attempted to obstruct army personnel and their families in Jabalpur from voting.
Title:2019 Video of Indian Army Personnel Falsely Shared as Army Canvassing Votes for BJP in the Ongoing Elections
Fact Check By: Harish Nair
Result: Misleading
This story was originally published by Fact Crescendo and republished by OrissaPOST as part of the Shakti Collective.
