Nearly a billion Indians are voting to elect a new government in six-week parliamentary elections that began on April 19, the world’s largest democratic exercise.
AFP found no news reports of election fraud by Owaisi’s supporters in Telangana, where voting for all 17 constituencies was completed on May 13 (archived link).
However, the video spread in similar posts on Facebook and elsewhere social media platform
West Bengal video
A reverse image and keyword search on Google brought up the posted video on YouTube in February 2022 – two years before India’s parliamentary elections started (archived link).
According to the description of the YouTube video, the incident took place in the Indian state of West Bengal, and not in Telangana.
“WB (West Bengal) Municipal Elections 2022,” reads the Bengali title of the video posted by news channel TV9 Bangla.
“In booth No. 108 of Ward No. 33 of South Dumdum, the voter did not vote, but the agent.”
The caption of the video and text overlay reads: “Instead of voters, a polling station casts votes at an EVM (electronic voting machine) center.”
TV9 Bangla reported that a poll worker voted in place of a citizen at a school polling station in Lake View School in the Indian city of South Dumdum (archived link).
The incident said it happened in full view of an election official.
Political parties in West Bengal expressed outrage over the apparent voter fraud in X posts (archived here and here).
Meanwhile, the Hyderabad city police posted further his official account on X that the video showed no tampering during the 2024 elections (archived link).
Telangana’s chief electoral officer also refuted the claim in a press release (archived link).
“It is hereby noted that this is an OLD VIDEO, NOT related to Telangana Assembly Elections or any other election in Telangana,” the statement said.
“The election process in the state was conducted in a free and fair manner.”
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to India’s elections here.
