A video snippet is creating a buzz on social media platforms that allegedly shows the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India allegedly evading a question about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah during a press conference. The claim suggests that the CEC blatantly ignored a question regarding the lack of action taken against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah for their purported hate speech. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: The CEC deliberately skipped a question about Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
Fact: The viral video clip is part of a longer press conference by the Election Commission of India regarding the 2024 General Elections. In the full-length video, it is evident that the Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, did respond to the question posed by the journalist. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
To determine the veracity of the viral video, we began by searching for the original press conference footage. Our search led us to the full-length version of the press conference organised by the Election Commission of India on the upcoming Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies elections 2024, which is available on their official YouTube channel.
Upon examining the original video, the section from the viral video could be located at the 1:00:54 timestamp, where Ashlin Mathew, a journalist from the National Herald, can be seen posing a question about Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s alleged hate speech. The video clearly shows that rather than ignoring the question, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar did in fact, offer a response.
The questions in that particular session were taken in sets of five, after which the CEC provided the responses. Ashlin Mathew’s question was fourth in line, and EC’s response can be found at the 1:10:23 timestamp in the video. CEC Rajiv Kumar stated that actions would be taken by the ECI, regardless of the political status of the individual in question during the elections.
To sum up, the claim circulating on social media that the CEC consciously ignored a question regarding Narendra Modi and Amit Shah is false. The original video clearly shows that the question was indeed answered during the press conference.
