AI Photos Viral As Massive Crowd Protestsing Against Vote Theft In Delhi
BOOM found that the viral photos do not show the crowd gathered at the INDIA bloc rally in Delhi on November 1, 2026.
Several photographs of massive crowds have gone viral with the misleading claim that they show people attending the INDIA bloc's protest against alleged voting fraud at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on November 1, 2026.
BOOM found that the viral photographs are either unrelated or depict scenes synthetically generated using AI tools.
The opposition INDIA bloc, led by the Congress party, held a rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on November 1 to protest alleged voting irregularities in the recently concluded elections and demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Congress had earlier claimed that the rally would draw a turnout of 10 lakh people, while the BJP later challenged the figure, setting off a political debate online.
Claim 1: Picture shows the crowd at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan at 9:30 am on November 1
The picture was posted across social media platforms with the caption, "Ramleela Ground 9:30 am".
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
What We Found: We spotted several inconsistencies in the image. The Hindi spelling of 'Maidan' is incorrect, while posters featuring Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi appear distorted. These discrepancies become more evident when the image is zoomed in, as shown below.
We also ran the photograph through OpenAI's image verification tool, which detected embedded OpenAI watermarks, confirming that the image was synthetically generated.
Claim 2: Picture shows people gathered at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on November 1 for a rally against vote theft
The picture was posted by verified X handle @CJP_for_India with the caption, "People were gathered in yesterday's rally in Ramleela maidan Delhi against vote chori and Save democracy. Delhi".
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
What We Found: When we compared the photograph with the view of Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on Google Maps, we noticed several differences in the layout and surrounding areas.
Additionally, when we analysed the image using OpenAI's image verification tool, it detected hidden OpenAI watermarks embedded within the photograph.
Claim 3: Picture shows a massive crowd protesting against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar
Verified X handle @savedemocracyI shared the photo with the caption, "Gyanesh it's done bro."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
What We Found: A reverse image search led us to an article published by Peoples Dispatch on February 4, 2019. The article stated that the photograph shows a Left Front-led rally held in Kolkata at the time.
BOOM had previously debunked the photograph in 2021 after Congress handles shared it with a similar misleading claim.
