A photograph and quote circulating on WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook purport to show senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani after he voted for the opposition Congress Party in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The claim is false; the photo is a decade old and actually shows Advani voting in 2009 elections. The photo shows veteran leader holding up his ink-marked index finger.
The text that has been shared alongside the photo says:
"'For the first time in my 70+ years of voting life, I’ve voted for the Indian National Congress party. For this, I owe Modi and Amit Shah a big thank you, more than I owe it to Rahul Gandhi.'
Lal Krishna Advani, Ahmedabad, April 23, 2019”.
Below is a screenshot of the WhatsApp message:
Screenshot of misleading WhatsApp message
The image has also been shared alongside the same caption multiple times on Facebook and Twitter.
Advani, 91, has represented Gandhinagar in Gujarat since 1991 while BJP president Amit Shah is the party candidate from the constituency for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
A reverse image search on Google found that the picture of Advani in the misleading posts is not from April 23, 2019, but is, in fact, a decade old.
It has been cropped from an original 2009 photo taken by the PTI news agency, in which Advani is seen with his late wife.
AFP also photographed Advani and his wife from a different angle after he voted 10 years ago on April 30, 2009.
Below is the image, which can be found on the AFP Forum website:
Screenshot of AFP image
The caption on the AFP image says: “Prime ministerial candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), LK Advani (L), accompanied by his wife Kamla Advani (C) and their daughter Pratibha (R), interacts with the media after casting his vote in Ahmedabad on April 30, 2009."
According to multiple media reports, when Advani voted on April 23, 2019, he was wearing a red waistcoat, not a black one as in the 2009 image used in the misleading posts.
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