Fact Check: Viral Video of Man Casting Multiple Votes Not from Pulivendula ZPTC Bypoll
A recent by-election was held for the Pulivendula Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) in August 2025
Claim :
Viral video shows a man casting many votes in the ZPTC bypoll in Pulivendula, Kadapa district of Andhra PradeshFact :
The video is an old one, not related to ZPTC bypoll elections in Pulivendula, Andhra Pradesh
A recent by-election was held for the Pulivendula Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) in August 2025. This by-election was significant because Pulivendula is a long-standing political stronghold of the YSR family, and it has been won unopposed by the YSRCP for decades. In a major setback to YSRCP, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate, Latha Reddy, won the by-election, defeating the YSRCP's Hemanth Reddy by over 6,035 votes. TDP candidate M Krishna Reddy Addaluru won the Vontimitta ZPTC bypoll against YSRCP rival I Subba Reddy, garnering 12,780 votes, said an official release.
TDP's win in Pulivendula is considered a major breakthrough, The victory is particularly noteworthy given Pulivendula's symbolic importance as the YSR family's political heartland. The YSRCP alleged that the TDP won the by-elections by rigging the polls. Due to violent incidents on the initial polling day, re-polling was ordered in two polling stations within the Pulivendula ZPTC limits.
Amidst this situation, several leaders and members of YSR congress party are sharing a video which shows a man casting many votes at a time, in front of the polling officers is going viral on social media with the claim that the video shows man voting fake votes in front of the polling officers. The video is in circulation with the caption in Telugu “ఈ ZPTC ఎన్నికల ఫలితాలు కోయ ప్రవీణ్ IPS కి అంకింతం !” when translated it claims “Results of this ZPTC election are dedicated to Koya Praveen, IPS!”
Here is the archive link of the claim.
Fact check:
The claim is False. The video is not related to recent ZPTC elections that took place in Andhra Pradesh.
When we extracted keyframes from the viral video and searched using reverse image search, we found that the video is not recent and has been online since 2023.
Few users shared the video with the caption “This happened in West Bengal, not Andhra Pradesh. Don’t spread fake videos.”
We found that the video was shared by several social media users with the captions like “Only in West Bengal a man can cast 20 votes in one go “
A facebook user named Dibrugarh Times shared the same video stating “Man casting multiple votes in West Bengal Panchayat election”
Some X users shared this video with caption “Only in West Bengal a man can cast 20 votes in one go”
Andhra Pradesh fact check unit debunked the claim and stated that “ఈ జడ్పీటీసీ ఎన్నికల ఫలితాలు కోయ ప్రవీణ్ ఐపీఎస్ కు అంకితం అంటూ మాజీ మంత్రి అంబటి రాంబాబు ఒక వీడియోను పోస్ట్ చేసారు. అందులో ఒకే వ్యక్తి అనేక ఓట్లను వేస్తున్నాడు. అంటే నిన్నటి పులివెందుల, ఒంటిమిట్ట జడ్పీటీసీ ఎన్నికల్లో పోలీసులు దగ్గరుండి దొంగ ఓట్లు వేయించారు అన్న అర్థం వచ్చేలా ఆయన పోస్టు పెట్టారు. నిజానికి అది 2023 జులైలో పశ్చిమబెంగాల్ రాష్ట్రంలో జరిగిన ఎన్నికల తాలూకు వీడియో. దీన్ని అప్పట్లోనే సుధాంశు వేది అనే వ్యక్తి పోస్ట్ చేసారు. అంటే అది ఇక్కడి వీడియో కాదు. నాటి వీడియోని ఉపయోగిస్తూ... ఒక డీఐజీ స్థాయి అధికారి మీద అంబటి రాంబాబు గారు ఈ విధంగా పోస్ట్ చేయడం... ప్రభుత్వ యంత్రాంగం మీద కుట్రపూరిత ఆరోపణ చేయడం, ప్రజలను తప్పుదోవ పట్టించడం కిందికి వస్తుంది. కాబట్టి ప్రజలు ఇది గమనించాలి. ఇటువంటి ఫేక్ ప్రచారం చేసే వారిపై ఎటువంటి చట్టపరమైన చర్యలు తీసుకోబడతాయో... అటువంటి చర్యలను అంబటి రాంబాబుగారి మీద కూడా తీసుకోబడతాయి. #FactCheck #AndhraPradesh.”
When translated it states “Former Minister Ambati Rambabu posted a video dedicating the ZPTC election results to Koya Praveen IPS. In it, a single person is seen casting multiple votes. This implies that in yesterday's Pulivendula and Ontimitta ZPTC elections, the police were present and facilitated fraudulent voting, as per his post. In reality, it is a video from the elections held in West Bengal in July 2023. It was posted back then by a person named Sudhanshu Vedi. This means it is not a video from here.
By using that video... Ambati Rambabu has made such a post against a DIG-level officer, which amounts to making conspiratorial allegations against the government machinery and misleading the public. Therefore, the public should take note of this. Whatever legal actions are taken against those who spread such fake propaganda... similar actions will also be taken against Ambati Rambabu.”
Though we are not able to prove if the video shows vote rigging in Panchayat elections of 2023 in West Bengal, but the video is in circulation since June 2023. The video is not recent and is not related to ZPTC elections that took place in Andhra Pradesh. The claim is False.
