Many Facebook users are sharing a post with a video showing EVMs being burnt. In the post, it is alleged that at Mandi in Poonch district, EVMs were hacked by BJP and when voted to any party all the votes were going to BJP itself. Let’s try to verify the authenticity of the claims put in the post.
Claim: EVMs being burnt in Mandi, Poonch district and all the votes went to BJP only.
Fact: The video in the post was taken on April 9, 2017 during the by-election for Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When the video in the post is run through InVID Fake Video debunker plugin, many key frames of the video will be obtained. On doing Google reverse image search of them individually with the filter “EVMs burnt”, then for a certain frame, the URL of an NDTV article dated April 12, 2017 was found. As per the article, the video is the one related to the by-election for Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency. On voting day, huge violence erupted as the mobs targeted the polling booths as there was a poll boycott call by the Kashmiri separatists. A similar video was also uploaded on YouTube two years ago by Waqt India.
As the elections for Jammu Lok Sabha constituency were held on 11th April 2019, this video resurfaced on social media with a misleading narrative.
Finally, a 2-year old video is now being re-circulated with a misleading narrative.
