Amid the season of the 2023 Elections, a video has gone viral on social media platforms showing (Bahujan Samaj Party) BSP Chief Mayawati appealing to the Public to vote for Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and leave no stone unturned to defeat Congress this time. In the video, the BSP Chief can be heard saying: “We will put our all force to defeat Congress’ candidate in Madhya Pradesh, even if we have to give our vote to BJP candidate or any party ‘s candidate”. Users on social media are fiercely sharing this video and claiming that Hurt by the insult done by the Congress party, BSP supremo Mayawati ji appealed to her voters to vote for BJP.

Video was shared by BJP leader Prashant Umrao

Prashant Umrao, Spokesperson of BJP from UP, shared this video on X(Twitter) and wrote: “Hurt by the insult done by the Congress party, BSP supremo Mayawati ji appealed to her voters. Leave no stone unturned to defeat Congress in Madhya Pradesh, it is better to vote for BJP than wasting votes – Ms. Mayawati”(English Translation)

The video has received more than 1 lakh views on X(Twitter). The archive link can be seen here

Video was shared by other users as well

We found that other users also shared this video making similar claims.

Fact-Check

To determine the truth behind the viral video, the DFRAC team converted the viral video into Keyframes and reverse-searched on Google. Meanwhile, we found a similar video on the X(Twitter) handle of BBC Hindi.

Video posted by BBC Hindi

We found a similar video on the official  X(Twitter) handle of BBC Hindi with the caption:” Why did Mayawati attack Akhilesh Yadav and talk about voting for BJP”. Moreover, the video was posted three years back.

Media Reports from WION News and Scroll. in

A subsequent search led us to a media report from Scroll.in published in the year 2020 stating that BSP chief Mayawati said her party would vote for any other political outfit, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, in order to ensure the defeat of the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming elections to the Upper House of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, and the Rajya Sabha. Her comments come amid speculations that some of her party MLAs could jump ship and join Yadav’s party ahead of the two elections.

Following this, a report from WION news, published three years ago also mentioned: “Speaking to ANI, Mayawati said, “We have decided that to defeat SP candidate in future MLC elections in UP, we will put all our force and even if we have to give our vote to BJP candidate or any party candidate, will do it. Any party candidate, who will be dominant over SP’s 2nd candidate, will get all BSP MLAs’ vote for sure,” said Mayawati”.

Conclusion

It is proved from DFRAC’s Fact-Check that the viral video of BSP chief Mayawati is digitally altered. In fact, the video captured her statement in the year 2020 asserting to defeat the SP candidate in the MLC elections, not Congress candidate.