Fact Check: Video alleging army’s proxy voting for BJP is from 2019, not 2024

After the third phase of voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on May 7, a video circulating on social media depicts unidentified individuals accusing army personnel of engaging in proxy voting and influencing votes in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) inside booth number 146. The nearly two-minute-long footage shows civilians confronting and heckling uniformed personnel who are standing near a vehicle.

"Indian Army Tarnished by Modi & His Sanghi Gang The Army is being used by the #BJP to cast Fake Votes. The #IndianArmy has been assigned the task of carrying out illegal and fraudulent work for the BJP. Caught red-handed inside Election booth for influencing voters to cast Fake Votes for #BJP.#LokSabhaElection2024 #ThirdPhaseVoting #INDIAAlliance," wrote an X user while sharing (Archive) the video.

“The army is being used by the BJP to cast fake votes. INDIAN ARMY has been assigned to do ILLEGAL & FRAUDULENT work for the BJP. Caught RED handed inside the Election Booths to influence voters for FAKE Votes to the BJP,” wrote another X user while sharing (Archive) the video.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video is from 2019.

Upon conducting a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found it posted on Facebook (Archive), YouTube (Archive), and LinkedIn (Archive) in May 2019.

We ran a relevant keyword search and found a report by ANI of May 2, 2019, titled “MP: Army officers claim miscreants obstructed them from casting votes, lodge complaint.”

According to the report, on April 29, 2019, soldiers and their spouses from the Grenadiers Regimental Centre went to vote at booth number 146, Swami Vivekananda Higher Secondary School, Katanga, Jabalpur, for the Parliamentary elections. They were using an authorized Army vehicle for transportation. However, certain individuals approached them, forcibly snatched their voter identity cards, and attempted to prevent them from casting their votes. They also circulated videos to malign the Army’s image. The report mentioned that the Army officials had requested the police to register an FIR against the miscreants and take necessary action against them.

The Times of India reported the incident on May 3, 2019, stating the video was recorded during the polling on April 29, 2019. In the footage, soldiers are observed making efforts to avoid provocation as they are followed by some men who accuse them of favouring a particular party. It also mentioned that the Army’s complaint to Jabalpur SP Nimish Agrawal states that the soldiers depicted in the video were targeted because they had successfully retrieved their voter IDs from the individuals involved.

Hence, we conclude that the video accusing army personnel of proxy voting from 2019 is being falsely linked to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.