Fact Check: That's Not Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer Showing How EVMs Malfunction

A video (archived here) of a man showing an allegedly malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) that appears to show votes going to a party different from the one the voter polled for is now viral amid the ongoing general elections.

In the video, the man says, "After we cast a vote for BSP (Bahajun Samaj Party), the light shows the symbol of BSP (elephant), which the voter sees and moves out. However, after this, the light switches off, but the slip the VVPAT machine generated is for the party you want to win - that slip is printed; for instance, the BJP slip is printed instead. This happens in the dark..."

The video was shared by a social media user on Instagram with the claim that the man in the clip is Gujarat's Chief Election Officer (CEO) with text labels that read, "Gujarat CEO shows live demo of glitches in EVMs, BJP government shocked after seeing glitches in EVMs live. Live proof of glitches in EVMs (translated from Hindi)."

Screenshot of the viral posts (Source: Instagram/Facebook/Screenshot)

The video garnered over 1,19,000 likes on Instagram at the time of writing. An archived version of a similar post can be viewed here.

However, the man in the viral video is not the chief election officer of Gujarat.

How did we verify this? 

Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer is P Bharathi. This information can be verified from the Gujarat Election Commission's official website. Ms Bharathi is not visible in the video at any point.

P. Bharathi's information available on Gujarat's Election Commission website (Source: The Indian Express/Screenshot)

In the video, one can also spot the logo of 'The Janta Live' in the top right-hand corner and 'Press Club, Delhi' written in the top left-hand corner. This indicated that the video is from Delhi. We looked for the video on the YouTube channel 'The Janta Live' and found that the video had been taken down. However, an archive can be found here.

A Google search for 'live demonstration of faulty EVMs in India', led us to a video ( archived here) on a YouTube channel called 'Prime Media Goa' titled "EVM HATAO, DESH BACHAO MOVEMENT' DEMONSTRATES FLAWS IN EVMS".

In the video, around the 2:43 timestamp, we can see the same man from the viral video demonstrating an allegedly malfunctioning EVM. The news anchor in the video stated that the EVM Hatao Sanyukt Morcha's demonstration alleged flaws in EVMs at an event in Goa's Vasco.

The man in the viral video is the same man seen in the YouTube video shared by 'Prime TV Goa' (Source: Facebook/ Prime TV Goa YouTube/Modified by Logically Facts)

We found the official website of 'EVM Hatao Sanyukt Morcha', a non-profit, and according to their 'About Us' section, they aim to address the "critical concerns surrounding the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) systems in India's elections."  

We contacted the organization through the 'Contact Us' section to verify the details of the viral video. We were put in touch with Hijam Rajendra Singha, managing director of pharmaceutical company Siroy Life Science and an EVM HSM leadership team member - this information is also on the organization's website.

Mr Singha said the video is from an event held at the Delhi Press Club where EVM HSM, with Congress leader Udit Raj, briefed the media about concerns over allegedly malfunctioning EVMs on February 20. Udit Raj can be seen in the viral video standing beside the man from the viral clip giving a demonstration. Mr Singha said that the man seen giving the demonstration in the viral video is Atul Patel, a 'technical expert' and member of the EVM HSM. 

Mr Singha also shared the link to EVM HSM's official Facebook page. On their Facebook page, we found a video (archive here) from April 25 where we can see the man from the clip using an EVM identifying himself as Atul Patel and saying, "From the past few months, we have been fighting against EVMs and VVPTs across India."

On Udit Raj's X (formerly Twitter) account, we found a post (archive here) from February 20 that shared more details of the Delhi Press Club event.

Screenshot of Udit Raj's tweet (Source: X/Udit Raj)

The verdict

The viral video does not show the Gujarat chief election officer but members of the non-profit EVM Hatao Sanyukt Morcha briefing the media about the possible flaws in EVMs at the Delhi Press Club on February 20.

(This story was originally published by Logically Facts, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)