Akhilesh Yadav Shares Old Video Falsely Claiming 'Booth Capturing' in UP's Kunda

The video dates back to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and shows a booth-capturing incident in Haryana.

The claim states that the video shows booth capturing in Uttar Pradesh's Kunda.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

As the elections in Uttar Pradesh are underway, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav shared a video that shows a man voting on behalf of three women in a polling booth.

Yadav claimed that this shows 'booth capturing in Kunda' and asked the election commission to take cognisance.

Some claims took a dig at Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) founder Raghuraj Pratap Singh, popularly known as Raja Bhaiya, stating that it was done at his behest.

However, we found that the video was taken inside a polling booth at Asaoti in Haryana's Faridabad Lok Sabha seat Prithla during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

According to news reports, a polling agent, identified as Giriraj Singh, was arrested in May 2019 after he allegedly influenced voters in the sixth round of the Lok Sabha polls.

After the incident came to light, the district election office in Faridabad had tweeted in 2019 saying that the "polling agent was trying to influence at least 3 lady voters" and was arrested.

The Quint's WebQoof team had debunked the video earlier in 2020 when it was shared falsely claiming to show "booth capturing in the Bihar assembly elections".

Catch all the live updates on the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls here.

CLAIM

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav shared the video with a claim in Hindi that reads, "कुंडा में जिस तरह बूथ पर उपस्थित किसी दल के अवांछित व्यक्ति द्वारा सरेआम महिलाओं के वोटों का बटन दबाया जा रहा है, उसके वीडियो का संज्ञान लेते हुए चुनाव पर्यवेक्षक चुनाव आयोग से कुंडा का चुनाव रद्द करने की अपील करें। साथ ही दोषी व्यक्ति को चिन्हित कर तत्काल गिरफ़्तार करवाएं।"

(Translation: In Kunda, someone present at the polling booth is pressing the button for other women voters. I appeal to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to cancel elections in Kunda, and identify and arrest the guilty immediately.)

Kunda went to polls on Sunday, 27 February. However, the tweet was later taken down.

An archive of the tweet can be seen here.

(Source: Wayback Machine/Screenshot)

Several social media users have shared the video along with similar claims and the archived links can be seen here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

When we looked with keywords 'Kunda booth capturing' on Google, we found an article by News18 published on 1 March.

The article read Raja Bhaiya had hit out at Yadav for sharing an outdated video from 2019 to make claims of booth capturing in Kunda during UP polls.

We found his tweet in the article, which also carried an image of Yadav's tweet, which is now deleted.

Taking cue from here, we searched for news reports using relevant keywords.

A report by The Quint read that the incident took place at a polling booth in Faridabad's Asaoti village where Singh, alleged to be a BJP agent, was arrested on Sunday, 12 May 2019, for pushing three women and allegedly pressing the "lotus symbol".

He was later released on bail, just hours after his arrest. The EC had later ordered a re-polling at the booth on 19 May after finding that the complaint was true.

The story was published on 14 May 2019.

(Source: The Quint/Screenshot)

NDTV had spoken to one of the women involved in the incident who told that Singh had instructed her to press the button next to the BJP's electoral symbol. She hadn't complained to anyone in the booth, a report from 14 May 2019 read.

We also found a reply by the district election office, Faridabad to a user who had posted the video on 12 May 2019.

An archive of the tweet can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Clearly, a video from Haryana's Faridabad during the 2019 LS election is being shared now as the 2022 UP poll is underway.

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