A photo showing an election campaign ad by Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Maharashtra unit asking voters to elect the Mahayuti alliance in the upcoming assembly elections for the progress of Gujarat, is altered and fake.
BOOM found that the text on the image has been digitally altered. The original text urges people to vote for the BJP for the 'progress of Maharashtra'.
The Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra consists of the BJP, Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena.
Maharashtra assembly elections are set to be held on November 20, 2024, with the results expected on November 23.
Viral photo falsely shared as BJP Maharashtra posting pro-Gujarat ad
Opposition parties have often targeted BJP Maharashtra accusing the party of favouring Gujarat over Maharashtra when it comes to large business projects. The fake image is viral in this context.
The viral photo shows a political poster with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cut outs. The text in Marathi on the poster translates to, "BJP- Mahayuti is there, then there will be progress of Gujarat".
(Original text - भाजप-महायुती आहे तर गती आहे गुजरातची प्रगती आहे)
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FACT-CHECK: Text on photo of Maha BJP Ad Is Edited
BOOM found that the viral photo showing a BJP ad asking people to vote for the Mahayuti alliance for the progress of Gujarat, is digitally altered.
Text on BJP ad photo heavily edited
Zooming into the image clearly shows the word Gujarat has been added to the photo and appears to stand out from the rest of the text in the sentence.
Original Maharashtra BJP slogan and political ad
We also found that BJP Maharashtra's current campaign slogan translates to "If there is BJP-Mahayuti, then there is Maharashtra's progress" (Text in Marathi - भाजप-महायुती आह तर गती आहे. महाराष्ट्राची प्रगती आह)
This can be seen in the below BJP Maharashtra ad which has the same photo of Modi and Fadnavis and the original slogan.
