Fact Check: Kerala CM did not ask people to vote for Congress in LS polls, viral video is cropped

A cropped video of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan talking about the Congress party doing well electorally in Kerala during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is being shared with the false claim that the CM asked people to vote for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his party in the upcoming general elections.

Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats which go to the polls on 26 April, 2024. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) alliance led by Vijayan’s Communist Party of India (Marxist) had won one seat, whereas the Congress led United Democratic Font had won 19 seats, with Gandhi winning from Wayanad in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress and CPI(M) are fighting the 2024 Lok Sabha election separately in the state, while being part of opposition-led INDIA alliance nationally.

The 1.08 minutes video is being shared on Facebook claiming that Vijayan asked people to vote for Congress. In the video, Vijayan can be heard saying, “They said that no party will receive a majority. In such a scenario, the party with the most numbers will be called to form the govt. If Rahul Gandhi has to be called, Congress has to have the most numbers. Hence, we should elect as many congress candidates as possible. Even if LDF candidates don’t win, both the parties are against the BJP. The party that has the chance to form the govt and elect the prime minister should be given a chance…”

The original caption in Malayalam reads, “കൈരളിക്കിതെന്ത് പറ്റി,,!! പിണറായിക്ക് വരെ കാര്യം മനസ്സിലായി,,,!! ഇനി എല്ലാ സഖാക്കൾക്കും പിരിഞ്ഞ് പോകാം സാക്ഷാൽ പിണറായി വിജയൻ തന്നെ പറയുന്നു,,!! കോൺഗ്രസിന് വോട്ട് ചെയ്തു വിജയിപ്പിക്കണമെന്ന്,,,!! ഇനി നമ്മൾ എന്തു സെയ്യും മല്ലയ്യാ,,!!!!”

Click here to view, and here for an archive.

The same video was also posted on Instagram by Kerala Congress’s official handle with the misleading claim.

BOOM found that the viral video has been cropped, and in the original video Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan criticised the Congress while explaining why they did well electorally in Kerala during the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The part where Vijayan was criticising the Congress and asking people to vote for the CPI(M) in this 2024 Lok Sabha election has been cropped out.

Taking a hint from the channel logo in the viral video — Kairali News — we found the full live speech of Vijayan from 3 April, 2024.

In the below video, Vijayan can be heard saying, when translated to English, “Rahul Gandhi came to Wayanad to contest. Congress supporters projected him as the next PM and they tried to create a narrative. But after some time, they changed their narrative.”

This portion has been edited out of the viral video.

After this, Vijayan says, “They said that no party will receive a majority. In such a scenario, the party with the most numbers will be called to form the govt. If Rahul Gandhi has to be called, Congress has to have the most numbers. Hence, we should elect as many Congress candidates as possible. Even if LDF candidates don’t win, both the parties are against the BJP. The party that has the chance to form the govt and elect the prime minister should be given a chance.”

Click here to view an archive

Vijayan in his speech had criticised the Congress and Rahul Gandhi which has been edited out to make the misleading claim.

The CM’s entire speech can be seen in the below video from 3 April, 2024 — from the 34 minutes timestamp. Vijayan was campaigning for LDF Lok Sabha candidate Joice George in Kattappana.

This story was originally published by Boom Live as part of the Shakti Collective. Apart from the headline, excerpt and introduction, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.