An old video of group of people recording and accusing a few Indian Army personnel of forcing people to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, is being shared as a recent incident from the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
In the 2.14 minutes video, two unidentified men can be seen questioning men in uniform and claiming that they were campaigning for the BJP and asking people to vote for the party.
The first phase, second phase, and third phase of voting in the Lok Sabha 2024 election was on April 19, 2024, April 26 and May 7. There are total 7 phases of voting and the results will be declared on June 4, 2024.
The viral video was posted on X by the handle @RavinderKapur2 with the caption, "BIG BREAKING: 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"
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is from May 2019 during the general election and not from the ongoing Lok Sabha elections as being claimed on social media posts. The Indian Army had refuted the claims made in the video by the unidentified men back in 2019.
The Indian Army had put out a statement after the video had gone viral and also filed a complaint against unidentified miscreants for allegedly trying to snatch voter cards of the army personnel present at that location.
The Indian Army's complaint dated May 1, 2019, read, "On April 29, 2019, day of voting for Parliamentary Elections, soldiers and their spouses of the Grenadiers Regimental Centre proceeded to cast their votes on a bona fide transport viz Army vehicle at Booth no 146, Swami Vivekananda Higher Secondary School, Katanga, Jabalpur. At booth no 45 when the soldiers of the Indian Army were in the process of exercising their right to vote, certain miscreants approached and snatched their voter identity cards by using criminal force and tried to obstruct them from casting their votes."
Several media outlets including TOI, ANI and The Quint had reported on the Indian Army refuting the viral video back then and releasing a statement.
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The Times of India had reported that the Congress candidate Vivek Tankha from Jabalpur had complained to Election Commission back then claiming that an Army officer has a ‘close relationship’ with Jabalpur BJP candidate and state party chief Rakesh Singh.