A 2017 video showing a woman in a head-scarf questioning four burqa-clad women about alleged fake Aaadhaar cards in a polling booth in Uttar Pradesh, is going viral with a false claim that the women were caught casting 'fake votes' for the Samajwadi Party.
However, BOOM found that the video is not related to the ongoing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh but shows an incident that took place during the civic polls in UP's Rampur district in 2017.
The video is being shared even as assembly elections are underway in UP. Phase three of polling is set to take place on February 20, 2022 and will be held in 59 assembly constituencies in the state.
The video is being shared with a Hindi caption that claims, "Fake voting for SP, burqa wearing women caught red handed. For winning the election, the Samajwadi Party is doing this hijab and burqa drama since last few days only to cast fake votes in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The fraud is everywhere."
(Original text in Hindi: सपा की फर्जी वोटिंग रंगे हाथ पकड़ी गई बुर्के वालियां। समाजवादी पार्टी को जिताने के लिए उत्तर प्रदेश विधानसभा चुनाव में फर्जी वोट डालने के लिए ही ये हिजाब और बुर्के की नौटंकी पिछले कुछ दिनों से चल रही है। हर जगह धोखाधड़ी।)
The caption also makes a reference to the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka over the freedom to wear hijabs inside classrooms in educational institutions.
See to Facebook posts here and here.
The video is also viral on Twitter with same claims.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a keywords search on Facebook using Hindi keywords, "पकडा जाली वोट डालते" (fake voter caught) we found that same video was posted in November, 2017. See two videos here and here.
The woman who alleges that fake voting was taking place can be heard saying in the video that "I am BSP contestant Shaila."
Taking cue from this, we found a report uploaded on November 27, 2017 on a YouTube channel named My City News 24.
The video states that Rampur municipal chairperson and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) leader Shaila Khan caught a few people who were allegedly casting votes without proper identity proof. The buqa-clad women are seen in the video.
Times of India reported on November 3, 2017 that BSP had fielded Shaila Khan for contesting the chairperson seat of Rampur Nagar Palika (Municipality). Khan is a fashion designer by profession. The poll was held on November 26, 2017.
Shaila Khan's then interview and campaign video reported by local outlet Paini Khabar and Rampur News can be seen here and here.
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