A viral video shared by Republic TV claims that @RahulGandhi recently linked Delhi’s air pollution to alleged vote theft while making fresh allegations against the Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The full caption of the posts states: “While Delhi gasps for clean air, Rahul Gandhi has found a new culprit for the pollution. Speaking in the capital, he said the problem does not come from factories, cars or smoke, but from vote stealing. He also made fresh allegations against the Election Commission of India and Gyanesh Kumar. Delhiites hoping for answers on stubble burning and vehicle emissions will have to keep waiting, because the AQI, it seems, now runs on ‘vote chori’.”
Similar kind of posts can seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Fact Check
The DFRAC team found this video to be old and edited. Relevant keyword search led us to a Zee Business report published on December 15, 2025, which carried the same visuals and a longer version of his remarks.
Further investigation led us to the original video uploaded on the official YouTube channel of the @INCIndia. The footage is from the ‘Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod’ rally held at Ramlila Maidan in December 2025. At around the 1:40:25 timestamp, Rahul Gandhi can be heard making the statements featured in the viral clip. In the original, Gandhi said vote theft undermined the Constitution and fueled problems like unemployment, GST flaws, demonetisation and air pollution.
For further information, we contacted the Uttar Pradesh’s Congress’s spokesperson Dr Meraj Hussain. In his statement, he clarified that the viral video claiming to show Rahul Gandhi blaming vote theft for worsening air pollution is old and edited. The clip is a cropped version of a larger video where his statement was represented with a misleading claim.
Conclusion
The viral video is an old and cropped excerpt from Rahul Gandhi’s December 2025 speech at Ramlila Maidan, not a recent statement on Delhi’s pollution.
| Claim Review | Recently, Rahul Gandhi blamed vote theft for worsening air pollution |
|---|---|
| Claim By | Social media users |
| Fact Check | Misleading claim |
Sources:
- Original video by Zee business on YouTube.
- Full video by Indian National Congress on YouTube.
- Statement of Uttar Pradesh’s Congress’s spokesperson Dr Meraj Hussain
