A post viral on social media alleges that President Droupadi Murmu was present with Prime Minister Modi as he submitted his nomination for the forthcoming 2024 General Elections (here & here). Accompanying this claim is a photograph showing President Murmu alongside the Prime Minister as he appears to be handing over documents to an official (here). In this article, we examine the veracity of this claim.
Claim: Photo depicting President Droupadi Murmu accompanying Modi while he filled nomination for the 2024 General Elections.
Fact: The viral photo is from June 2022, capturing the moment when Prime Minister Modi accompanied Droupadi Murmu as she submitted her nomination for the President’s election. Additionally, Modi has not yet submitted his nomination for the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The viral photo does depict President Murmu with Prime Minister Modi, but it is not related to Modi filing his nomination for the 2024 General Elections. Instead, the photograph is from 2022 when Murmu submitted her own nomination for the presidency.
A reverse image search of the viral photo directed us to a tweet from Narendra Modi’s official account that posted the same photo. According to the description accompanying the tweet, the occasion was Droupadi Murmu submitting her nomination for the President’s election.
Additionally, several news articles from 2022 that covered Murmu’s presidential nomination also feature the same photo of Modi handing the nomination papers to the official. These articles can be viewed here and here.
It should be noted that Narendra Modi has not yet filed his nomination for the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency. Reports indicate that PM Modi is scheduled to file his nomination papers for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat on 14 May 2024. Therefore, it is clear that the viral photo is unrelated to the current elections.
To sum up, an old photo from Droupadi Murmu’s presidential nomination is being circulated with a false claim that it is related to the current elections.
