A video of a man on a moving truck pulling down banners from an electrical pole has been shared online with a claim that he removed the posters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in accordance with the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), but left the flags of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) untouched.
Social media users claimed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) was “undermining” the election campaign of the AAP ahead of the general elections in India. The MCC came into force on 16 March, 2024, after the election commission announced the dates for the Lok Sabha elections. The code is a set of guidelines for the political parties during elections.
A social media user shared the viral video (archived here) on X with the caption, “Shame on you @ECISVEEP Once Model Code of Conduct is enforced, every Govt Agency will be under the ECI’s Control. They allowed the arrest of Chief of One of the ONLY 5 National Political Parties. Now, they are selectively undermining AAP’s Campaign. Free & Fair Election (sic).”
The post garnered over 1,60,000 views. Archives of similar posts can be found here and here.
However, the video shows a person removing the flags of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the youth wing of the Congress party. It was shot in January 2024, months before the MCC was implemented.
How did we verify this?
The viral video bears the watermark of ‘NSUIRajasthanOfficial’ with an Instagram logo. Typically, this happens when the original video is downloaded from an Instagram user’s account. We found the video on NSUI Rajasthan’s Instagram account, uploaded on 14 January, 2024.
The caption of the video states that it is from Jaipur, Rajasthan. It also adds that the posters were removed on the orders of the state’s Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma ahead of NSUI Rajasthan State President Vinod Jakhar’s visit to the city.
The now-viral video was also shared on NSUI Rajasthan’s X and Facebook accounts on 14 January, 2024. This indicates that the video was online before the elections were announced.
A closer look at the video also shows that the posters have the words ‘Vinod Jakhar’ and ‘NSUI State President’ written on them. This shows that the posters were not of the AAP.
We contacted Rajesh Jhakar, Vinod Jakhar’s brother and an NSUI worker, who said, “This video is from 13 January and was uploaded on 14 January. These posters were put up when my brother (Vinod Jakhar) came to Rajasthan for the first time after becoming the state president of NSUI. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar also came to Rajasthan on the same day, but on the orders of the administration, only the posters of NSUI were removed, not those of the BJP.”
Jakhar shared more photographs of the posters with us. The words “Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Vinod Jakhar on being elected Rajasthan NSUI State President (translated from Hindi)” can be clearly seen on them. Vinod Jakhar was elected as Rajasthan NSUI President on 7 January, 2024.
The verdict
The viral video shows a man removing NSUI posters in Jaipur, Rajasthan, on 13 January, 2024. The video was shot months before the elections were announced. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.
This story was originally published by Logically Facts as part of the Shakti Collective. Apart from the headline, excerpt and introduction, this story has not been edited by ThePrint.
(Translated by Azra Ali)
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