Old, Cropped Video Peddled As Rahul Gandhi Blaming Vote Theft For Pollution
BOOM found that in the original video, Gandhi criticised the BJP-led government over its administrative failures and alleged that it remained in power through vote theft.
Republic recently shared a video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, claiming that the oppostion leader blamed vote theft for the pollution in the national capital during his November 1, 2026 address at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan.
BOOM found the video old, cropped and misleading. In the original 2025 video, the Congress leader criticised the BJP-led government for its administrative failures and alleged that it remained in power through vote theft.
In the eight-second video, Gandhi can be heard saying in Hindi, "See this pollution... all of this is happening because they are stealing votes."
The Claim
Republic shared the video on their official Instagram handle and wrote, "While Delhi gasps for clean air, Rahul Gandhi has found a new culprit for the pollution. Speaking in the capital, he said the problem does not come from factories, cars or smoke, but from vote stealing. He also made fresh allegations against the Election Commission of India and Gyanesh Kumar. Delhiites hoping for answers on stubble burning and vehicle emissions will have to keep waiting, because the AQI, it seems, now runs on ‘vote chori’."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
What We Found: Viral Video Is Cropped And Misleading
Gandhi Links BJP's Governance Failures to Vote Theft: We first ran a related keyword search and found a Zee Business report from December 15, 2025, carrying the same remarks by Rahul Gandhi in context. The report stated that Gandhi made the remarks during a rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan. Taking this as a cue, we found the livestream of Gandhi's speech from December 14, 2025.
During the speech, the Congress leader criticised the BJP-led central government for its alleged failures and claimed that the party remained in power by stealing votes.
At the 1:40:43 mark in the video, Gandhi can be heard saying, “First and foremost, vote theft is an attack on Dr BR Ambedkar’s Constitution. They are running this government by stealing votes. They have destroyed small businesses, implemented flawed GST and imposed demonetisation. Look at the unemployment and pollution. All of this is happening because they are stealing votes. If they were not stealing votes, you would have removed them from power within five minutes. That is the truth.”
