Fact-check: Five-month-old video falsely shared as recent election campaign

Social media users are sharing a video of Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, the minister of information and communications. Protesters can be heard chanting slogans against Karki and anti-MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) slogans simultaneously in the video.

Dressed in a black waistcoat over a saffron shirt with a scarf around his neck, Karki pleads with the crowd to keep calm by raising both of his hands. But there is no way to stop the chants.

A Twitter user @sureshkshetri09, posted this video on October 16, suggesting that the minister was turned away from his own electoral constituency. This video has been watched over 12,000 times which garnered 335 likes and 65 retweets. 

Rajendra Raut shared the same video on Facebook, where it garnered more than 1,200 views. Through Facebook Watch, Facebook videos can further increase its viewership (a feature on Facebook that allows users to watch videos only).

Nepal Check fact-checked whether or not this video is recent as political parties and candidates promote themselves ahead of the national election on November 20.

Snapshot of a video of Gyanendra Karki posted by Facebook user Indra Chhetri on May 13, 2022

After conducting a keyword search on Google and various social media platforms, we found a video posted by Indra Chhetri on Facebook on May 13, 2022. 

After carefully examining the video, we found that it is identical to the video that’s making the rounds on Twitter and the one that user Indra Chhetri posted on May 13.

A screengrab of news on protest against Minister Karki published in Thaha Khabar

Further investigation found that when Karki went to the Barahakshetra Municipality to cast his ballot in the local election held on May 13, 2022, protesters had chanted slogans against him. His appearance in the polling booth wearing the same outfit in the video was confirmed by news from Thaha Khabar. Karki’s presence and chanting of slogans at polling booths was also confirmed by Khabar Hub’s show called “Dinbhar Aaja”.

The video that shows protesters chanting slogans against Minister Karki was filmed during local elections held on May 13. Therefore, the claim that it was shot during the recent campaign for parliamentary polls is false. 

ClaimClaimed byNepal Check Verdict
Video shows protesters chanting slogans against Minister Karki during campaign for parliamentary polls.
Twitter and Facebook users.
False
Nepal Check verdict on social media user’s claim that video shows protesters chanting slogans against information minister Karki during the recent election campaign.

This article is written by

Nepal Check Team

NepalCheck.Org is an independent, non-partisan fact-checking platform. We are here to counter bad information and promote fact-based understanding of issues in Nepal.