A video which shows a woman taking out money from an envelope carrying the symbol of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is going viral with users linking to the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
What do the viral posts say?: An X (formerly Twitter) user uploaded the video with a caption that said, "CASH FOR VOTES is only allowed for BJP. Right @ECISVEEP @SpokespersonECI??."
Are these claims true?: No, the video has been online since at least November 2023 and predates the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
How did we find that out?: We performed a reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video using the help of Google Lens and came across same visuals uploaded on an X handle.
It was published on 17 November 2023 and its caption said, "BIG BREAKING: Madhya Pradesh. People of BJP candidate Sudesh Rai are distributing money at night, Ward 13 Sehore. BJP cannot think beyond buying and selling."
News reports: A report published by Zee News said that the Collector of Sehore, Praveen Singh had taken cognisance of the video showing cash exchange from an envelope that carried the photo of a BJP candidate.
It should be noted that Rai is not contesting in the Lok Sabha Elections, which is another indicator that the video is unrelated to the general elections.
Rai, a BJP leader, had contested in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh legislative elections and had won the seat of Sehore.
Conclusion: While we could not independently verify the location or context of the video, it is clear that the video is old and unrelated to 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
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