YSRCP faces criticism for digitally boosting crowd numbers at Jagan’s rally in Bapatla, AP

Hyderabad: As campaigning intensifies in Andhra Pradesh for the 2024 Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assembly elections, the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) and the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are leaving no stone unturned to create a lasting impression on voters in the virtual world.

According to the Meta Ad Library data, the top 10 political spenders in Andhra Pradesh, from December 11, 2023, to March 9, 2024, have collectively spent Rs 32,492,622 (more than Rs 3 crores) on political advertisements. During this period, the official and fan pages of YSRCP in the list collectively spent a total of Rs 11,687,198 to spread their message to all corners of social media.

Political fan pages – sources of constant misinformation

Fan accounts of the YSRCP and TDP have been a persistent source of misinformation, posing challenges for fact-checkers. In the march to the Telangana State Assembly elections last year and after, NewsMeter has debunked various misleading posts shared by these fan accounts.

However, even official social media handles, run by people (or agencies) directly managed by people affiliated with the parties, have also managed to spread misinformation.

Recently, the official Facebook and X accounts of YSRCP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy shared a digitally altered image from his March 10 election meeting at Medarametla near Addanki in Bapatla district, Andhra Pradesh.

The ‘Siddham’ meeting at Medarametla marked the conclusion of politically charged gatherings organised by the YSRCP government before the release of notification for the general elections. On March 10, CM Jagan Mohan Reddy’s official accounts, including the X handle of the Chief Minister’s Office, posted seven photos from the meeting, showing their leader greeting a massive crowd. However, social media users felt that the size of the crowd in the photos was too good to be true and upon close investigation detected discrepancies in one of the photos.

Image in question

Digitally adding people to increase size of public meetings

An examination of one of the photos revealed that groups of people in one section of the photo were cloned and placed in other parts to artificially increase the size of the audience who attended Jagan’s meeting.

For instance, look at the image below. You would find paired boxes of three colours – red, orange and green – rounding certain parts of the photo. Inspect paired boxes of one colour and you will see a pattern that will prove that the image was digitally altered.

For example, consider the two green boxes; almost at the center of one box are three persons wearing yellow, red, and pink shirts. Three persons with the exact clothing and framing can be seen in the second green box. Similarly, spot the cloning done in the red and orange boxes. This proves that the crowd in one part of the photo was digitally added to another part to increase the size of the crowd.

A three-hour video recording of the Siddham meeting uploaded to the YSRCP’s YouTube channel is here.

As per a report by The Hindu published on March 8, YSRCP leaders stated that the party aimed to mobilise over 15 lakh individuals for the Siddham meeting at Medarametla. The gathering took place at a 106-acre venue located near NH-16.

Why size of crowd is sign of strength

The fixation on crowd size is a notable aspect of political campaigning.

Pictures of sizable gatherings often circulate without proper context, leading to the exaggeration of support for political figures and parties.

During the 2021 Tamil Nadu general elections, images portraying large crowds welcoming the then-chief ministerial candidate MK Stalin were misleadingly presented as crowds gathered for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s event.

Similarly, before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, a photo depicting a large religious procession in Bangklased was misrepresented as a gathering in Uttar Pradesh to welcome All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

This phenomenon of increasing show of strength at public meetings is not new to Indian leaders. After Donald Trump’s swearing-in as US president in 2018, edited photos of the ceremony, officially released by the White House, showed digital alterations done to it. According to The Guardian, ‘a government photographer edited official pictures of Donald Trump’s inauguration to make the crowd appear bigger following a personal intervention from the president, according to newly released documents.’