Viral TikTok video on presidential candidates lacks context

A TikTok video criticising Nepali presidential candidate Ram Chandra Paudel went viral ahead of the country’s March 9 presidential election. The video clip includes a photo of Paudel and the logo of News 24 Television and features a voiceover that questions Paudel’s support for India’s continued presence in Kalapani. (Paudel was elected President of Nepal on March 9*).

“Presidential candidate, anti-national Ram Chandra Paudel,” Tiktok user @counttop10 posted the video clip with the caption on February 27, 2023. As of March 13, the video received over 129,000 views and 8,000 likes and has been shared more than 1,000 times. A poster of Rabi Lamichhane, president of the Rashtriya Swatantra Party and former deputy prime minister and home minister, appears on the TikTok user’s profile. The name of the party in Nepali appears beneath the user name.

The voice in the video says:

Let’s look back at what happened on August 10, 1998. Nepal was embroiled in a protest against the Indian occupation of Kalapani, a disputed territory in the western region of the country. The opposition party, CPN-UML, filed an adjournment motion in Parliament, demanding that India withdraw its occupation. While two factions of the CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party supported the proposal, the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Marxist-Leninist), a breakaway faction, claimed it was a diplomatic issue and opposed it. Then Speaker Ram Chandra Paudel, who is now a presidential candidate, canceled the House of Representatives meeting, refusing to register the resolution motion to withdraw the Indian army from Kalapani-Limpiyadhura. The recent turn of events raises questions about whether India is now repaying Paudel for his support in the past.  

News 24 TV

A Twitter user @davils_advocate later shared the video, questioning why India  supported Paudel. This tweet was retweeted 35 times as of March 12.

Nepal Check fact-checked the viral video clip.

Fact-check

A YouTube search for “Call 24 News 24” led us to News 24 TV‘s YouTube channel, from which the clip was taken. In the episode published on the YouTube channel on February 26, 2023, the presenter discusses Paudel’s candidacy. The viral TikTok video clip and the episode on News 24 Television were both similar. However, after criticising Paudel in the show, the presenter criticises the UML’s presidential candidate, Subash Chandra Nembang as well. When speaking about both the candidates, the presenter says:

Let’s look back at what happened on August 10, 1998. Nepal was embroiled in a protest against the Indian occupation of Kalapani, a disputed territory in the western region of the country. The opposition party, CPN-UML, filed an adjournment motion in Parliament, demanding that India end its occupation. While two factions of the CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party supported the proposal, the Nepali Congress and CPN (Marxist-Leninist), a breakaway faction, claimed it was a diplomatic issue and opposed it. Then Speaker Ram Chandra Paudel,  now a presidential candidate, canceled the House of Representatives meeting, refusing to register the resolution motion to ask India to withdraw its army from Kalapani-Limpiyadhura. The recent turn of events raises questions about whether India is repaying Paudel for his past support.  
We shouldn’t forget another fact of history. On December 20, 2020, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved the House of Representatives, leading to a debate on the constitutionality of his move. While a writ petition was filed against it, the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, Subash Chandra Nembang, who helped draft the constitution, remained silent. As vice president of the CPN-UML and a presidential candidate, how will Nembang protect the very constitution he helped create? Questions have been raised here, too.

News 24 tv

The presidential election was slated for March 9, 2023. The eight-party alliance, including the Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) fielded Ram Chandra Paudel as the group’s presidential candidate. Nembang was a candidate from the CPN UML. Both of them filed their nominations on February 25, 2023, as per the presidential election programme.

In the show Call 24, the News 24 TV presenter spoke about presidential candidates’ political backgrounds. While we have not fact-checked the claims made by the presenter, we have analysed the context of the viral TikTok video. 

The presenter did criticise Paudel’s alleged support for India but also criticised Nembang for his silence when Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved Parliament in 2020.

Nepal Check concludes that by editing a short clip from the show, the TikTok post misses context. 

ClaimClaimed byNepal Check verdict
A television show was critical of Presidential candidate Ram Chandra Paudel only.Social media usersMissing context
Nepal Check verdict after fact-checking the viral TikTok video that is critical of Ram Chandra Paudel.

*Corrected to say he was election on March 9. An earlier version said he was elected on March 10.

This article is written by

Himal Poudel

Poudel is a fact-checker at Nepal Check. For the last two years, he has worked as a reporter and a translator. He was a political reporter at Naya Patrika, one of Nepal’s leading dailies, from August 2021 to August 2022. Prior to joining Naya Patrika, he worked as a desk editor at Sunaulo Nepal, a digital platform.