An old video of two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members allegedly offering a bribe to voters ahead of civic elections in Chhattisgarh is viral on social media with claims that it is from Delhi in the run up to the assembly elections next month.
The video shows two party members interacting with a woman and offering them a sealed envelop as they clarify the names enlisted on the voter list. One of the BJP members then goes on to reveal the contents in the envelop and states that there is an amount of Rs 700 for each voter.
"This is for four people. It is a gift from Didi. Rs. 700 for each vote." (ये 4 लोगों का है, दीदी की तरफ से गिफ्ट है, एक वोट का सात-सात सौ रुपए)
The video has been doing the rounds with the caption, "BJP's open campaign in Delhi. Take Rs 700 and vote for BJP."
(Translated from Hindi दिल्ली में #BJP4India का खुला प्रचार 700 लो #BJP को वोट दो. (listen to audio) Open bribing to people for voting BJP in #DELHI in Rs. 700. Shameless #BJP is exposed again.)
Delhi Legislative Assembly will go to polls to elect a new assembly on February 8, 2020.
The clip has also been shared by Amit Mishra, social media strategist of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with the same narrative.
Fact Check
BOOM found that one of the party workers carried a bunch of pamphlets for campaigning. The pamphlet had the name of the candidate - Shrimati Koushalya Devi Bansal. Bansal however is not enlisted as a candidate in Delhi's assembly elections.
Upon relevant keyword searches we found that Bansal was a BJP candidate for Chhattisgarh's civic elections from Mahasamund district, that was held on December 21, 2019. Here is a link of Bansal's Facebook profile which corroborates the same.
The other party worker offering the envelop to the voter was identified as one Lalita Agrawal. She has often been photographed with Bansal during campaigns and party activities. Below is an image featuring Lalita Agrawal (circled in green) and Koushalya Bansal (circled in red). The viral video shows Lalita Agarwal speaking while Koushalya Bansal can be seen in the background.
BOOM also found a news report by Dainik Bhaskar, which corroborated the incident. According to the news article, Bansal, the vice president of Mahasamund Municipal Corporation was recorded allegedly bribing a voter along with Lalita Agrawal, district vice president of BJP and also a relative of Bansal. However, both Bansal and Agrawal had called the video fake and claim that the audio has been tampered with. Agrawal was further quoted as saying that the sealed envelop had details about the candidate.
BOOM was not able to independently verify whether the allegation of bribery is true or not.
