On February 21, social media user Avi Dandiya had uploaded a Facebook Live video where he claimed to have revealed a massive conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party to rig electronic voting machines before Lok Sabha elections.
His conspiracy theory was based on an alleged audio conversation between BJP chief Amit Shah and national security advisor Ajit Doval. Dandiya’s Live video attracted over 5 lakh views and more than 20,000 shares. A quick scroll through the comments section suggests a large number of people believed the audio to be true.
Alt News had earlier debunked another audio clip uploaded by the same individual, Avi Dandiya, which falsely purported to show that the BJP had orchestrated the Pulwama terror attack.
Social media user Smit Amin had contacted us regarding the previous manufactured clip. Amin also alerted us about the EVM conspiracy audio conversation posted by Dandiya.
Upon scrutinising the original videos shared by Amin, Alt News confirmed that the clip was manufactured.
Truth about the alleged EVM conspiracy
In the first few seconds of the alleged conversation, Amit Shah is heard saying, “ये तो तीन दिन से तैयारी चल रही थी (Preparations have been going on for three days.)” This statement was picked up from an interview that the BJP chief had given to Zee News’s Sudhir Chaudhary last year. He said the aforestated words in response to a question posed by Chaudhary regarding the possibility of an alliance between Peoples Democratic Party, National Conference and the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir.
At about 20 minutes into Dandiya’s Live video, the man who was claimed to be Ajit Doval is heard warning Shah of the consequences of hacking EVMs, saying they might get into trouble if an investigation was to follow.
“अब इसकी जाँच कौन करेगा बताओ? अमेरिका? (Who is going to investigate this? America?)” was the BJP chief’s purported reply. This statement was manufactured by conjoining two different parts of the Sudhir Chaudhary interview. At 29.13 minutes, Shah said, “अब इसकी जाँच कौन करेगा बताओ? (Who is going to investigate this?”), with regard to the CBI corruption scandal. At 27.47 minutes he used the word “अमेरिका (America)” while talking about the devaluation of the rupee against the dollar and the rising petrol prices.
Another part in the conversation was lifted from different parts of the 2016 India Today conclave addressed by the BJP chief.
“आप पहले समझ लीजिये की कन्फूज़न कहा से खड़ा होता है| मुझे कोई कन्फूज़न नहीं है| अरे यार कोई आर्गुमेंट तो ढंग का करो उनको आप समझाए क्यों नहीं? जहा तक मसले का सवाल है मुझे तो कोई पूछेगा नहीं| Please understand where the confusion arises from. I have no confusion. At least give good arguments; why didn’t you make him understand? With regard to the issue, no one is going to question me.”
At 50.50 minutes in the India Today address, Shah said, “आप पहले समझ लीजिये की कन्फूज़न कहा से खड़ा होता है| (Please understand where the confusion arises from.)”
At 8.53 minutes, he said, “मुझे कोई कन्फूज़न नहीं है| (I have no confusion.)”
At 8.35 minutes, he said, “अरे यार कोई आर्गुमेंट तो ढंग का करो (At least give good arguments.)”
The last portion of the statement – “मुझे तो कोई पूछेगा नहीं (No one is going to question me)” – was lifted from the Sudhir Chaudhary video. Shah uttered these words at 13.56 minutes into the interview.
Towards the end of the manufactured audio conversation, Amit Shah said, “वेल प्लांड, आप रिकॉर्ड चेक कर सकते हो| (well planned, you can check the records).” This too was picked up from the BJP president’s interview to Zee News. At 9.41 minutes, he used the phrase “वेल प्लांड (well planned)” and at 15.23 minutes, he said, “आप रिकॉर्ड चेक कर सकते हो (you can check the records.)”
While the complete audio clip could not be transcribed due to the incoherence of words, the above-stated examples are enough to substantially prove that the conversation was manufactured.
Moreover, the voice ascribed to Ajit Doval was not his, as found after comparing the audio clip with the national security advisor’s voice in publicly available speeches.
Avi Dandiya joined different audio recordings to make up a conversation between political leaders associated with the BJP to falsely claim that they were scheming to hack EVMs before elections.
Also Read:
Fact check: Manufactured audio clip used to falsely claim Pulwama terror attack an inside job by BJP
Fact check: Claims of ‘cyber expert’ who alleged that EVMs can be hacked do not withstand scrutiny
Dholpur bye-poll: One more report of EVMs favouring the BJP falls apart under scrutiny
It was not Lotus-Lotus: How misreporting led to a controversy over EVMs in Madhya Pradesh
The great EVM debate: Convincing the losers that they lost
Hacking EVMs: The EC has issued a challenge. It must first accept the challenge it faces
Full text: VVPAT audit of EVMs must be proper, not just tokenism, ex-bureaucrats say in open letter
