A 9-second video clip of Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal is being circulated with a claim that Kejriwal has appealed to vote for the Congress party in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election. In the video, Kejriwal can be heard saying everybody should together vote for the Congress. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Aravind Kejriwal appealing to vote for Congress party in Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election.
Fact: The viral video in question is an excerpt of Kejriwal’s message to voters that was delivered during the 2017 Punjab general elections and is being shared out of context. In the full video, Kejriwal appeals to vote for AAP in the general elections, by exposing the alleged BJP & Akali Dal plan to take on AAP. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat went for by-elections on 10 May 2023, along with the Karnataka State assembly general elections. According to the election commission, Jalandhar recorded a voter turnout of 54.5 percent. The seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary due to a cardiac arrest during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in January 2023.
It is in this context, the video of Kejriwal is being shared as if he is supporting Congress in this by-election. However, it is an old video that is being shared out of context.
An Internet search led us to the longer version of the video shared on Kejriwal’s official Facebook page in January 2017. Through this video message, Kejriwal appeals to vote for AAP in the general elections, by exposing the alleged BJP & Akali Dal plan to take on AAP.
In the video, Kejriwal can be heard saying “Reports are emerging of a door-to-door campaign by workers of the RSS and the Akali Dal, urging voters not to support the Akali Dal and the BJP in the upcoming election. Instead, they are advocating for a united vote in favour of the Congress party. There are widespread claims of individuals affiliated with the Akali Dal, RSS, and BJP switching their allegiance to the Congress party.”
In the later part of the video, he further adds ‘the actions of these political parties demonstrate a clear interconnection and shared goal to prevent the Aam Aadmi Party from winning the election and forming a government. This is likely because the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory could lead to the exposure of past corruption and can result in legal consequences for these other parties.’
From this video, it is evident that Kejriwal is appealing to vote for AAP, by alleging a nexus between other parties, and that an excerpt from this video is shared out of context. Later in February 2017, Kejriwal posted another video, in which he alleged that the Congress and Akali Dal were circulating an edited video of him ‘Appealing for votes in support of the Congress’.
To sum it up, an Ood video of Arvind Kejriwal is being shared as if he is supporting Congress in the Jalandhar by-election.
