Old campaign video against BJP falsely linked to Karnataka poll

Ahead of the Karnataka assembly election which is scheduled on 10 May, a video showing people in several countries holding placards that read ‘No Vote for BJP’ is going viral on social media.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Sevadal, Overseas Congress social media coordinator Vijay Thottathil, Congress national coordinator Deepak Khatri and others shared the video linking it to the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.

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Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video dates back to 2021.

We ran a keyword search on Twitter and found the same video tweeted by the handle “No_Vote_To_BJP” on 24 April 2021. It said that Bengalis across the world are asking people to not vote for BJP.

We also found articles in The Hindu and The Wire from 2021 that reported on the political campaign “No Vote To BJP” in West Bengal led by common people and endorsed by farmer leaders like RakeshTikait and social activist Medha Patkar.

We also found the video published on the “No Vote To BJP” YouTube channel published on 24 April 2021.

Hence, we conclude that a 2021 campaign video from West Bengal asking people to not vote for BJP is being falsely linked to the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.