Fact Check: Old image of Priyanka Gandhi visiting temple falsely linked to 2023 elections

Hyderabad: An image of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi draped in a red saree reaching out to ring a bell in what looks like a temple is doing rounds on social media with the claim that it’s just a publicity stunt by Congress before the upcoming elections.

A Facebook user shared the photo with the caption, “Elections have come in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh. So, grandmother’s saree has come out of the cupboard. But you won’t get anything. (translated from Hindi)”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false as the image is old and not related to upcoming elections.

By performing a reverse image search, we found the same image and more from the event on Flicker dated April 12, 2009. According to the caption of the images, the images show Priyanka Gandhi’s visit to the Durga temple during the election campaign for her brother and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in 2009.

Taking this as a cue, we performed a keyword search which led us to Getty Images where we found a number of images from the same event where Priyanka Gandhi was seen in a red saree.

According to the description, “Priyanka Gandhi Vadra smiles as she leaves a Durga Temple during an election campaign for her brother Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary in Amethi on April 12, 2009. Indian voters are set to go to the polls in five phases across the country for general elections from April 16-May 13. AFP PHOTO/HO/pressbrief.in (Photo credit should read STR/AFP via Getty Images)”

This is not the first time the image has resurfaced with misleading claims during state elections. We also found that the same image was viral in 2022 with a similar claim that Priyanka is visiting a temple for the Uttar Pradesh elections.