Ward Councillor Abducted By Locals For Not Showing Up After Election? Old Video Viral With Misleading Claim

A video of a man tied to a chair in the middle of water is going viral on social media. In this 20 seconds clip, people can be seen raising slogans. However, the original audio has been replaced by an old Bollywood track. While sharing this video, it is claimed that the man in the viral video is a local ward councillor who never went to his area after winning the election. So when he come back to seek votes for a rerun, the locals abducted him.

A Twitter user shared this video and wrote a caption in Hindi which reads, "ये जनाब पार्षद है, चुनाव जीतने के बाद कभी अपने क्षेत्र में नही गए। वापस चुनाव आने पर वोट की अपील के लिए दौरे पर गए जनता द्वारा किडनैप कर लिया गया."

[English Translation: This man is a councillor. After winning the election, he never went to his area. When the election came back, he went to seek votes then he was abducted by the public.]

A Facebook user wrote, "पिछले चुनाव के बाद अब द्वारा वोट मांगने गए पार्षद प्रत्याशी का बार्ड वासियों ने इस तरह स्वागत किया."

[English Translation: After the last election, now the councillor candidate who went to seek votes was welcomed by the ward residents in this way.]

Another user wrote, "परमजीत कौर वार्ड,16 जिस वार्ड में काम नहीं हुआ है। और पार्षद दुबारा वोट मागने आए तो उसका स्वागत जरूर करना यदि सच में बदलाव चाहते हो तो इनको पता चले जनता के बीच इनकी क्या ओकात है."

[English Translation: Paramjit Kaur Ward, 16. Ward in which work has not been done. And if the councillors come again to ask for votes, then definitely you should welcome them, if you really want change. Let them know what their status is among the public.]

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

Claim:

A local ward councillor who never went to his area after winning the election was abducted by the locals after he came back to seek votes.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact-check team verified the claim and found it to be misleading. The viral video is from 2020.

During the initial investigation, we used InVid's Keyframe analysis tool to isolate the keyframes of the video. We conducted a reverse image search on one of the isolated keyframes which led us to a report of Amar Ujala dated November 2020 in which a still of the viral video can be seen. According to the report, the viral video is from the Ambiya Mandi area of ​​Kotwali police station area of ​​Varanasi. The street was flooded with sewage water making lives difficult. People accused ward councillor, Tufail Ansari, of not acting on their complaints despite repeated requests. Angered by this, the councillor was taken hostage by the locals and they forced Ansari to sit on a chair in the middle of the sewage water.

Media outlets like Dainik Jagran, NavBharat Times, NDTV, News24, and ABP News, also reported the same. According to the report of NDTV dated 21 November 2020, locals also raised slogans against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's administration for neglecting their repeated complaints.

It is evident from our investigation that the viral video is not from recent but from November 2020. The viral video is from Varanasi where people angered by continuous water logging took a ward councillor hostage and forced him to sit on a chair in the middle of the sewage water. Hence, the viral claim is misleading.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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