After the probe published in The Indian Express newspaper, pointed to some key decisions linked to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, India’s youth-led Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and opposition parties have demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
After the Express investigation, slogans calling for removal and arrest of CEC Gyanesh Kumar rang out at Jantar Mantar where several people gathered in the afternoon. After this movement gained traction, one video has been widely shared on social media platforms.
The video was claimed to be from the recent protest. However, during the investigation we found that the video is old and not recent.
Claim:
X user पीडीए परिवार shared the viral video on his profile.
Other users are also sharing the same video with similar claim.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
We found the video posted by X user A.K. Stalin on February 1, 2024.
Reverse image search also led us to a post by DCP New Delhi on X.
The caption said: The claim of a live, massive protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar today is false.
The Video is Old: The footage being shared is archived material from a past event.
Legal action will be taken against those found deliberately spreading misinformation or circulating misleading content.
There were several reports from 2024 which stated that there were anti-EVM protests at Jantar Mantar.
We also found a video report of the same uploaded on YouTube channel, OHeraldo Goa, two years ago.
Conclusion: A 2024 video from an anti-EVM protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, is being shared as recent from a protest seeking CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. The viral claim is misleading.
