Fact Check: Images of empty chairs at BJP rally not related to ongoing poll campaigns

One Twitter user who shared the photo wrote, "अभी तो आगाज है, अंजाम क्या होगा।" (Translation: This is the starting, what will be the outcome).

Netizens claim that these images were taken recently during the ongoing election campaigns.

Click here and here to view similar claims.

Fact Check:

NewsMeter found that the claim that these images are from the recent election campaigns is FALSE. The images are from 2018.

We performed a reverse image search and found a report by Live Hindustan from January 2018 that carried similar images. The report said these images were taken in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in 2018 when "BJP national president Amit Shah called upon the youth to join the world's largest political party BJP and contribute to the development of the country".

The images of the empty chairs and of Shah were taken from this 2018 event as Shah, in the viral photo, is wearing the same attire and is surrounded by the same people.

A video on the official YouTube channel of the BJP also covered the event and was titled "Shri Amit Shah's speech at Yuva Udghosh Rally in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh : 20.1.2018".

Mr. Shah had also tweeted about the event in 2018. The viral images were taken in Varanasi where Baba Vishwanath addressed the 'Yuva Udhosh' program. "17360 youths of 1,736 booths of Varanasi Lok Sabha took BJP membership through the medium of digital payment in this youthful proclamation of Nav Bharat Bharat Nirman," he had tweeted.

Evidently, the claim that the images are from the recent election campaigns is FALSE.