Old video of Prakash Raj asking people not to vote for Congress linked to 2023 Karnataka polls

In the video, the actor can be heard saying, “So don’t waste your vote on Congress. I did not join any political party. I am an independent. I seriously take offence to this dirty politics stooping down by the Congress.”

A Twitter user shared the video and wrote, “Dear Karnataka, Prakasha has asked you all to NOT waste your votes on Congress. He is offended by the dirty politics of the Congress party. So please vote for BJP (sic).”

Several other users shared the video with the same claim. (Click here and here to see the posts.)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video is clipped and dates back to 2019.

On performing a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found the longer version of the video tweeted by the actor on 17 April 2019.

In the video, the actor alleges that the Congress is spreading fake news. He can be heard saying, “Look at the dirty politics the Congress is doing in Bangalore Central. A man who claims to be Rizwan’s PA, his name is Mazhar Ahmed. He had taken a photo of me and Rizwan attending a candidate’s meeting and then said Prakash Raj is supporting Congress. So don’t waste your vote on Congress. I did not join any political party. I am an Independent. I seriously take offence to this dirty politics stooping down by the Congress party and Rizwan. I have given an election complaint and please don’t believe in such rumours.”

Further, we found that Prakash Raj had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Bangalore Central as an Independent candidate and Rizwan Arshad was the Congress candidate.

ANI and Deccan Herald had also reported about Prakash Raj attacking the Congress over a fake post of him backing the grand old party.

The viral video is from 2019. Hence, we conclude that the claim that the actor has asked people not to vote for Congress in the 2023 Assembly elections is false.