A video titled "Congress MLA breaks voting machine due to fear of an impending defeat" (translated from Malayalam) has gone viral on social media showing several men smashing an EVM (electronic voting machine) inside a polling booth in Andhra Pradesh.
The 32-second clip posted by an X user featured the logo of the mainstream Malayalam news channel Asianet News from May 22, 2024. (Archive)
The post was captioned “Footage of MLA breaking EVM at a polling booth in Andhra Pradesh.”
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. The video shows YSRCP legislator P Ramakrishna Reddy vandalising an EVM in the Macharla constituency of the Palnadu district in Andhra Pradesh.
A reverse image search of the video's keyframes has revealed that several mainstream news portals as well as local news channels in Andhra Pradesh have also reported the incident. NDTV covered the incident under the title ‘On Camera, Andhra MLA Flings VVPAT To Ground In Polling Booth,' where they reported that the Election Commission (ECI) stated that the MLA was captured vandalising EVMs in seven polling centres.
In the CCTV footage, Reddy is seen forcefully entering a polling station, seizing control of the voting device, and throwing it on the ground. A local Telugu news portal reported that the incident occurred on May 13 of this year during the polling for both Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh.
The same video featuring the Asianet's logo is available on their YouTube channel with the title ‘After the footage went viral, the Election Commission announced an inquiry against the YSRCP MLA'.
While the Election Commission (EC) has instructed the Andhra Pradesh chief electoral officer Mukesh Kumar Meena to pursue criminal action against him, Reddy has reportedly gone into hiding since the video went viral. According to reports from The Indian Express, sources indicate that the MLA has crossed over into Telangana to evade police action.
Hence, the claim that a Congress MLA vandalised a voting machine is false.
(This story was originally published by NewsMeter, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)