2019 video shared as recent visuals of UP voters accusing the BJP of bribing them - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 7, 2022
A video of the ‘News 18’  is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Uttar Pradesh voters accusing BJP of bribing and forcefully applying indelible ink on their fingers. This video shows a few people alleging that BJP workers have distributed money to skip voting. Amid the ongoing 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, this video is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of Uttar Pradesh voters accusing BJP workers of bribing them and forcefully applying indelible ink on their fingers.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows an old incident that took place during the 2019 General Elections. In May 2019, residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Tara Jivanpur village staged a protest accusing BJP workers of bribing them and forcefully applying indelible ink on their fingers. This video has nothing to do with the ongoing UP Elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched for the video using keywords on the internet, a video with similar visuals is found in an article published by ‘News 18’ on 19 May 2019. This article reported that a few residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Tara Jivanpur village have staged a protest outside the local Police Station accusing BJP workers of distributing 500 rupees each to skip voting. The villagers also alleged that BJP workers have forcefully applied indelible ink on their fingers so they cannot cast their vote in the 2019 General Elections.  The workers from SP and BSP also reportedly participated in this protest.
Reporting details of the incident, several news websites published articles in May 2019. They can be seen here and here.  Responding to the incident, Chandauli Sub-Divisional Magistrate Kumar Harsh said, “Some residents of village Tara Jivanpur are alleging that ink was put on their hands and money was given to them so that they would not be eligible to vote. I can assure that all people who are eligible to vote in the constituency will be able to cast their vote, action will be taken against those who are found guilty”.
Lately, when this old video went viral on social media linking it to the ongoing UP Elections, Chandauli police through a tweet clarified that the video is old and is related to the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
प्रकरण वर्ष 2019 लोकसभा चुनाव के समय का है जिसमें तत्समय आवश्यक कार्यवाही की जा चुकी है इसे #विधानसभाचुनाव2022 से जोड़ कर कृपया बिना तथ्यों की सही जानकारी व पुष्टि के भ्रामकता न फैलाएं।#UPPolice @UPPViralCheck https://t.co/Af0rEGy8DH pic.twitter.com/BR5eMFWB3I
To sum it up, an old video related to the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections is shared as recent visuals of voters accusing BJP of bribing them during the 2022 UP Elections.