Fact Check: TN BJP chief Annamalai did not bribe woman voter
BJP leader Annamalai Kuppuswamy is making his parliamentary poll debut in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He is contesting for the Coimbatore seat, on a BJP ticket.
Annamalai
BJP leader Annamalai Kuppuswamy is making his parliamentary poll debut in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He is contesting for the Coimbatore seat, on a BJP ticket. The constituency would go to polls on April 19. He predicted that the BJP would get 60% votes in Coimbatore. He is campaigning for north Chennai candidate Paul Kanagaraj too.
A video of Annamalai giving money to a woman who held harathi to him is in wide circulation on social media. The video is shared on X (Twitter) with an inference that he is bribing the voters during the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, in violation of the model code of conduct.
Several X users shared the video with the caption “Karunanidhi 2.0”, and a user shared the video with the caption “Why is @annamalai_k doing this? There is nothing wrong in offering money to those who give “Harathi” to us. It’s a part of our culture. When you know the whole world is watching you and you do this? This is inviting trouble as per me. Do it openly, if you can’t then don’t do it.”
Another user shared it with a comment in Tamil “ஓட்டுக்கு பணம் கொடுக்காத உத்
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The video in circulation is an old one from July 2023.
When the keyframes extracted from the video were searched using Google reverse image search, we found a video published by a YouTube channel named Daily Focus with the title in Tamil. The video was published on July 30, 2023. The title states that Annamalai offered money to a woman who gave harathi to him, without her asking for it. See it for yourself”.
Upon further research, we also found a news report published by The New Indian Express stating that the Coimbatore district collector and Returning officer Kranthi Kumar Pati dismissed the allegation against BJP candidate K Annamalai after an inquiry found a video of him giving money to a woman was taken in July 2023. The collector clarified that as it is an old video, the matter doesn’t come under the purview of the model code of conduct (MCC) for the Lok Sabha election.
He further clarified that the video was shot on July 29, 2023, during 'En Mann En Makkal Yatra' in Ramanathapuram district. It’s in our culture to reward those who take ‘aarti’ as a symbol of affection.
We also found the tweets published by the collector which confirms that the video was an old one and does not violate the moral code of conduct.
Annamalai too responded to the complaint stating that the video was shot on 29-07-2023 during 'En Mann En Makkal Yatra in Ramanathapuram district. He added that it is culture to reward those who take arathi as a symbol of affection and it is not practiced during elections.
Hence, the viral video showing K Annamalai giving money to a woman is not recent and does not violate the Model Code of Conduct. The claim is False.