This Misleading Cropped Viral Video Shows PM Modi Supporting Ballot Paper Voting Over EVMs

A viral video shows Prime Minister Modi making a statement regarding voting through ballot papers. The video is being shared with the claim that he had raised doubts about voting through Electronic Voting Machines before being elected as PM in 2014.

Claim:

A Twitter user shared this video with a Hindi caption which reads, "प्रधानमंत्री नहीं बनने से पहले ईवीएम के मुद्दे पर नरेंद्र मोदी जी का एक पुराना बयान बड़ी मुश्किल से मिला है। जरूर सुनिए। #BanEVM."

[English Translation: Before becoming the Prime Minister, an old statement of Narendra Modi ji on the issue of EVMs has been found with great difficulty. Do listen. #BanEVM.]

The caption on the upper banner of the video is written in Hindi and reads, "Before becoming the Prime Minister, his statement on EVM's." The caption on the lower banner of the video reads, "He is a gimmicky fellow."

In the video, Prime Minister Modi can be heard saying in Hindi, "brothers and sisters, even in the most educated countries across the world, during elections, ballot papers are used for elections. Citizens of these countries stamp their names and send their votes through the ballot. These things happen in America as well."

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be misleading. The viral video is from 2016 when he was the PM and is being shared out of context.

We used InVid's Keyframe Analysis Tool to conduct a reverse image search. We came across screenshots that indicated that the viral video is a snippet of a larger speech.

The incident in question is from PM Modi's rally at Parivartan Rally in New Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, which was held on December 3, 2016. The incident was covered by various media outlets such as Scroll.in, Economic Times and NDTV.

NDTV published key takeaways from Prime Minister Modi's speech, one of which was the following quote:

Following another keyword search using the keywords Moradabad, PM Modi and ballot paper, we came across this video. The video was uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Narendra Modi on Dec 3, 2016. The caption of the video reads, "PM Modi at Parivartan Rally in New Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh". The cropped clip plays at the 55:19 mark.

The video carries the entire context of what the Prime Minister was talking about in regards to ballot paper used in elections.

He says the following in the video: "Some people say that our country is poor, that our people are uneducated, that they do not know anything. Brothers and sisters, even today, when an election takes place in educated countries, ballot papers are used. Citizens of those countries read their names and then put a stamp on the ballot. This thing happens even in America. However, this is India, the people who they call uneducated and poor, cast their votes by pressing buttons."

Conclusion:

To sum up, a cropped video of the Prime Minister's speech was shared with a misleading claim. The viral posts claim that PM Modi had raised doubts about EVMs before getting elected to power in 2014. In reallity, the viral video is a snippet of a larger video of a speech that took place at New Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh on December 3, 2016. Hence, the viral claim is misleading.

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