Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia on Tuesday retweeted a party worker's post showing two screengrabs of a news channel with the claim that EVMs are being replaced at every polling booth and the Election Commission (EC) and media are turning blind eye to it. He further claimed that people have voted against Narendra Modi but media and the EC are meddling with it.

Sisodia in his claim mentioned five places, including Jhansi, where EVM machines were allegedly replaced.

The senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader retweeted the post by Vikas Yogi- AAP's national media coordinator- who claimed that vehicles loaded with EVMs were found in Jhansi. Yogi's tweet in Hindi said: "Jhansi main gariyon main bhari EVM mili. Mandi Samiti main dono gariyon ko chhodkar bhage karamchari."

Though Sisodia or Yogi have not indicated the timing of this video, considering the fact that it has been shared ahead of the counting day, it gives an impression that the video is fresh.

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the video of Jhansi's EVM incident is more than 20 days old.

Jhansi Lok Sabha constituency of Uttar Pradesh went to polls on April 29. No evidence of EVM tampering was found by the district administration. The initial misunderstanding among local politicians involving two vehicles with EVMs was clarified by the district administration.

Yogi posted two screengrabs of news channel News18 Uttarakhand, where breaking news can be seen flashing with a reporter's phono from Jhansi.

Both Sisodia and Yogi's posts have been retweeted over 2,000 times and liked by a few thousand people at the time of filing this story.

While many people believed this was a recent incident, others commented saying it was old news. We found the original news clip from YouTube that was aired on the news channel on April 30, 2019, with the same phono plate.

We contacted Aswani Mishra, the reporter of News18 Jhansi, whose phono plate was seen in the viral post. Mishra said this was an old incident which took place on April 30, 2019, the day after polling. Two vehicles with EVM machines were spotted in Jhansi by locals.

Local politicians created a ruckus alleging EVM tampering. "Later, the district magistrate came and showed the political leaders that those EVMs were reserved and rejected from far-off places such as Garoutha and Mouranipur," said Mishra.

Hindi news website Dainik Bhaskar reported about the same incident on April 30, 2019.

The District Magistrate wrote a letter on April 30 to the Election Commission, mentioning the News18 report. He clarified that the local political leaders checked the EVMs found in the vehicle. They found that the EVMs were marked 'rejected' and left the spot satisfied. The DM's letter can be seen here.

INDIA TODAY FACT CHECK





Claim Vehicles with EVMs found in Jhansi points to EVM tampering. Conclusion This incident is over 20 days old and no malpractice was found by the local authority. JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie. 1 Crow: Half True

2 Crows: Mostly lies

3 Crows: Absolutely false