A 48-second video clip showing Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge waiting outside the collectorate's room during Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s nomination for the Wayanad bypolls is viral on social media.
Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders shared the viral video claiming that Congress deliberately kept Kharge out because he is a Dalit.
BOOM found the claim to be misleading because only five people including the candidate are allowed to enter the collectorate room at one time during the nomination process. Moreover, a Congress spokesperson told BOOM that Kharge was allowed in the room after a few minutes.
On October 23, Priyanka Gandhi filed her nomination for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency. Her brother, Rahul Gandhi, had vacated the Wayanad seat after winning in Rae Bareli.
BJP leaders such as Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Amit Malviya, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswas, Minister of Culture and Union Minister of Culture and Tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat were among the many who posted the viral video.
Amit Malviya’s post on X read, “Mallikarjun Kharge, veteran leader and Congress President, was kept out of Priyanaka Vadra’s nomination. Did the Gandhis keep him out because he is a Dalit?”
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Fact-check
To verify the claims, we spoke to former Chief Election Commissioner of India, S.Y. Quraishi and AICC Secretary, Communications, Pranav Jha.
According to Jha, Priyanka Gandhi, along with her husband Robert Vadra and their son, left a public rally earlier than Mallikarjun Kharge and other Congress leaders to ensure she reached the collector’s office on time to file her nomination.
When Kharge and Congress MP K.C. Venugopal arrived at the office, they were stopped at the gate because the ECI guidelines only allow five people, including the candidate, inside the nomination filing room at any given time.
BOOM verified this rule with former ECI chief S.Y. Quraishi, who confirmed that the limit of five people is in place to curb the crowd. The video showing Kharge waiting outside was selectively shared on X to imply that Congress leaders were sidelining him.
Further, Jha confirmed that Kharge was not only allowed to enter the room within minutes but was also seated next to Priyanka Gandhi. He sent the below images showing the same.
With inputs from Shefali Srivastava