As elections are nearing, an old video showing two men removing slips from VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) machines in a strong room, is being shared online with a false claim that it shows Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members engaging in EVM (electronic voting machine) fraud during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

BOOM found that the video dates back to December 2022 and was taken during the Gujarat Assembly Elections. Two election officials at the time clarified that the video shows no wrongdoing, rather a procedure laid down by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The video shows a man opening a sealed box and removing the slips (votes) from the VVPAT machine. He then puts the slips in a black envelope, closes the box and then places a blank roll of slips on top of it. The person recording the video captures the entire strong room, which is full of similar sealed boxes. 

A user on X shared the video with the caption, “BJP workers caught switching VVPAT slips in EVM machines. @ECISVEEP of course will do NOTHING! All 3 of them are salivating over the prospect of gubernatorial appointments after helping Modi steal this #LokSabhaElections2024! Free and Fair elections my a**e! “

This story was originally published by BOOM, as part of the Shakti Collective. Except for the headline, excerpt, opening introduction para, this story has not been edited by Gujarat Samachar  Digital staff.

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