Fact Check by PTI: A video of a woman counting money from an envelope bearing a symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with name and photo of the party leader is going viral on social media, linking it to the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections. In the investigation carried out by PTI Fact Check Desk, it was found that the video dates back to November last year and was shared on social media with misleading claims.
Claim
An Instagram user shared a video on April 19 which showed a woman counting money from an envelope which bore the symbol of the BJP, having a picture and name of the party leader.
The caption of the post read, “#BJPHataoDeshBachao”
Here is the link and a screenshot of the same:
Screengrab of viral video
Investigation
Initiating the investigation, the video was run through InVid Tool Search and several keyframes of the video were extracted. Upon running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, it was found that there were various posts having same video with similar claims.
Two such Facebook posts could be seen here and here:
Screengrab of viral video
Two such posts on X can be seen here and here
Screengrab of misleading posts
Upon further viewing the search results minutely, a post was seen which was shared on November 16, 2023 on X.
The caption of the post read, “बीजेपी प्रत्याशी सुदेश राय के लोग रात में पैसे बांट रहे, वार्ड 13 सीहोर। भाजपा ख़रीदने और बेचने से आगे नहीं सोच सकती।”
An English translation to the caption, “People of BJP candidate Sudesh Rai are distributing money at night, Ward 13, Sehore.BJP cannot think beyond buying and selling.”
Here is the link and screenshot of the same:
Screengrab of misleading post
Taking a cue from this, a customised keyword search was conducted which brought up a video report on YouTube, uploaded by the official channel of Inh 24X7 uploaded on November 17, 2023.
The description of the video, “INH, Sehore में पैसे बांटने का Video Viral | Collector ने लिया संज्ञान, लिफाफे में भाजपा प्रत्याशी का फोटो”
An English translation to the description read: “Video of distribution of money in Sehore goes viral. Collector took cognizance, photo of BJP candidate in envelope”
Here is the link for the video and below is a screenshot of the same:
Screengrab of YouTube video
The video report included visuals same as those shared in the viral video. Below is a combination image highlighting the same:
Screengrab of original video
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that an old video dating back to November 2023, from the runup to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, was shared as recent on social media with misleading claims.
CLAIM
Video of a woman voter counting money from an envelope given by a BJP candidate in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
FACT
The video dates back to November 2023 from the runup to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.
CONCLUSION
Several social media users shared a video showing a woman counting money from an envelope bearing the symbol of BJP, along with the photo and name of a party leader, and linked it to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In the investigation, it was found an old and unrelated video dating back to November 2023 was shared as recent on social media with misleading claims.
(Disclaimer: This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by India TV as part of the Shakti Collective.)
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