Fact Check: Old video from Telangana widely misattributed to Karnataka polls

In the run-up to the Karnataka assembly elections, misinformation and disinformation are being spread through a viral video shared widely on social media platforms.

In the beginning of the 30-second video, a woman engages with another woman in Telugu, inside a modest house. The resident of the house flashes an envelope handed over to her earlier. On the envelope is the image of a lotus, the symbol of BJP along with the photo of a politician.

The woman then tears open the envelope for the camera and counts a couple of currency notes and says it amounts to Rs 10,000. None of the faces are visible on camera. This video is now going viral with the claim that BJP is bribing the voters in Karnataka.

A Twitter user from Ashutosh Yadav tweeted in Hindi that fearing defeat in Karnataka elections, BJP was distributing money.

The video was also tweeted by Rajasthan Congress Seva Dal.

The claims surrounding the video are false.

To start with, going by the language spoken by the women, the video is from the Telugu states. The image on the envelope is that of Eatala Rajender, who served as health and finance minister of Telangana in the past. He has no connection with Karnataka. He resigned from the MLA post and later switched to BJP necessitating a by election. The video is from the time the byelection was held in 2021 when it surfaced just days before the poll date.

At that time, the BJP leaders termed it as propaganda by their political opponents, the ruling BRS to damage the image of the party and the candidate. The video has resurfaced two years later in the backdrop of the Karnataka elections.