Fact Check: Old video of Mahesh Babu in blue shirt at polling booth shared as his endorsement of YSRCP in 2024 LS polls
The claim is false as the video is from November 2023.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 13 May 2024 9:46 AM GMT
(Courtesy: X/@Vamsee007)
Claim: Viral video shows Mahesh Babu casting his vote during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in a blue shirt, revealing his endorsement of AP CM Jagan led-YSRCP.
Fact: The claim is false. The video is from November 2023 during the Telangana Assembly elections.
Hyderabad: As the voting in 96 constituencies across nine States and one Union Territory in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election is underway on Monday, a video featuring Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu with his wife Namrata Shirodkar going to the polling booth and coming out after casting their votes is circulating on social media.
In the video, Mahesh is seen wearing a blue coloured shirt and Namrata in a purple attire. The accompanying claim states that the blue shirt is an endorsement of AP chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP). Notably, the YSRCP flag has bands of blue, green and white colours on it.
āSuperstar Maheshbabu endorsing blue cloud shirt hinting to vote for YSRCP. #YSRCPWinning, (sic)ā wrote an X user sharing the video. (Archive)
āMahesh Babu, the superstar, exercises his right to vote donned in blue attire, (sic)ā wrote another X user while sharing the video (archive) with hashtags #Loksabhaelection2024 and #YSRCPWinningBig.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading as the video is from November 2023.
Upon conducting a reverse image search of the videoās keyframe, we found it posted by the X premium handle Gulte (archive) on November 30, 2023. The accompanying caption stated that Mahesh Babu and his wife had cast their vote at Jubilee Hills Public School for the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections.
We also found the video of coming out of the polling booth published by Oneindia News and TV5 News on November 30, 2023. The caption stated that the couple had cast their votes during Telangana Assembly Elections 2023.
We also found the picture of an inked finger posted by Mahesh Babu on Instagram (archive) and X (archive) on November 30, 2023. It shows the couple in the same blue and purple attire.
At the time of filing this report, Mahesh Babu was not yet seen casting his vote for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Hyderabad.
Hence, we conclude that the viral video is from 2023. The claim that Mahesh Babu endorsed YSRCP by donning a blue shirt is false.
