Fact Check: Video of Nava Telangana editor's comments on 20 lakh 'missing EVMs' is from 2019

Hyderabad: The NDA alliance has made significant gains in the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, overpowering the outgoing YSRCP government. As a result, the YSRCP won fewer seats than other parties and lost its status as the opposition along with the ability to form the government.

Amid these developments, a video featuring comments by S Veeraiah, the chief editor of Nava Telangana Telugu daily, is being widely shared on social media by YSRCP supporters. In the video, Veeraiah claims that there are several concerns regarding the electoral process in India, especially the use of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines).

He said that while 60 lakh EVMs were manufactured in India, 20 lakh are unaccounted for. He claimed that even the ECI is unaware of the ‘missing EVMs’. Although he doesn’t directly accuse the ruling government, he insinuates that the machines might have been used by the NDA government to sway the election results.

An X user shared the video with the caption, “Abracadabra of EVMs... NDA alliance changed 20 lakh EVMs. (translated from Telugu)” (Archive)

Another X user shared the video with the title “Everyone should think about this. Twenty lakh EVMs have been exchanged. (translated from Telugu)” (Archive)

Fact Check

Newsmeter found that the video is old and not connected to the recently concluded 2024 General Elections.

Further investigation into the viral video led us to a post on Veeraiah’s X account dated June 12, 2019, which has a YouTube link

The video, spanning 7 minutes and 46 seconds, is titled ‘Where are the 20 lakh EVMs that were missing in the Parliament elections? S Veeraiah Analysis.’ The video was published on June 12, 2019.

The viral clip appeared at the 1:10 minute mark in the video. In the extended video, Veeraiah questions ECI’s ‘silence’ on the discrepancies arising from using EVMs such as alleged differences in votes polled and votes counted at some counting centres. He claimed that in a polling centre in Gujarat, the difference in both counts reached a lakh votes. However, he provided no substantial proof of the allegations.

We have kept the scope of the article around the claim that Veeraiah’s comments are about the NDA government in 2024. However, since the video is from the 2019 General Elections, we conclude that the claim is misleading.