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| - Fact Check: Did BSP votes go to BJP in UP? No, years old image of EVM circulated with tampering claims
We found that though the source of the image is unclear, it is at least around three years old and not from the 2022 UP assembly elections.
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India Today Fact Check
This image has been making the rounds of social media since 2019 at least. It has no connection with the recently-concluded UP elections.
An image of an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) has been circulating on social media with the claim that the votes cast for the Bahujan Samaj Party in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections were registered in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The image was shared with captions that asked people to oppose the use of EVMs in elections.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the claim along with the image was misleading. This image of the EVM is not recent. It has been circulating on the internet since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections at least.
AFWA probe
A reverse search of the image in question proved that it was shared online as early as in 2019. We found the same image used by several social media handles in April 2019, at the time of the Lok Sabha elections.
We then checked for 2019 news reports surrounding the alleged EVM fraud from Uttar Pradesh.
According to reports, during the first phase of polling in the Lok Sabha elections, Dhara Singh, a BSP agent at a polling booth in the Bijnor Lok Sabha constituency made such an allegation. He alleged that the EVM button against the BSP candidate's name and symbol when pressed resulted in votes for the BJP at the Kasoli polling centre.
At the time, BSP chief Mayawati asked the Election Commission to take note of this. However, the EC reportedly found the BSP agent’s claim to be incorrect. Dhara Singh was reportedly charged for allegedly spreading "fake news".
We found the image of EVM in question carried in the 2019 reports about this incident. The Lallantop, however, noted in its report that the image was old and its source was unknown.
From the available details, we can conclude that though the source of the image is unclear, it is at least around three years old and not from the 2022 assembly elections held in UP.
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