Old video of a man breaking EVM during polling goes viral with misleading claims

This is an old video taken during the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections. It has no link to 2024 election.

Voting is going on in 88 constituencies across 13 States in the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls. Several videos from different parts of the country are circulating on social media regarding the 2024 general election, the majority of these videos are scenarios of previous state or central elections. Similarly, a video showing a man grabbing the EVM control unit and breaking it to the ground while users are claiming that Presiding officers and security teams should be careful and alert hinting that certain political parties are scared of losing the elections. 

We also found other posts stating that this video is from the 2024 election.

But on investigation, we found that the video is not recent. Let’s check the truth.

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by conducting a keyword and reverse image search on Google and the results led us to a report published by a news outlet named Star of Mysore (SOM) on 12 May 2023.  It featured a similar visual to the viral video. The report states that the incident happened on the day of polling during the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections. Vijayanagar Police have arrested a man for destroying a ballot control unit at a polling booth in Hootagalli, coming under Chamundeshwari Assembly Constituency in Mysore.

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Upon further search, we came across another report on this incident published on The Hindu website on 12 May 2023. According to the article, “the person involved in this incident has been identified as Shivamurthy (48) and. He quietly signed the register before violently grabbing the EVM control device and throwing it on the ground. He was immediately taken into police custody. There was no indication in the news reports that he was a member of any party and according to police the person suspected to be mentally unsound.

Kannada media outlet Vijayavani also uploaded the same video on their YouTube channel on 12 May 2023. Which you can see below

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found that the viral video is shared without proper context. This is an old video taken during the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections. It has no link to 2024 election.