Did Pakistanis Join ‘Vote Chori’ Protests in London? The Truth Behind the Viral Claim
From AI-generated images to old videos taken out of context, viral posts falsely claimed that Pakistanis and anti-India groups had infiltrated the ‘Vote Chori’ protest in London. OBC’s fact-check exposes how manipulated visuals and unrelated footage were used to misrepresent the demonstration.
On October 17, 2026, Indian students, diaspora groups, and political organisations joined YouTuber Dhruv Rathee at London’s Parliament Square to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Following this, distorted narratives began circulating rapidly online. Within hours of the protests, several right-wing social media handles and senior politicians shared out-of-context clips, AI-generated images, and digitally manipulated images to falsely claim that Pakistani demonstrators and anti-India groups had infiltrated the protest.
However, the OBC found these claims misleading.
The viral posts
On 18 October, the X account BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) posted a video on X, with the caption, ‘Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal gathered some people by instructing their gang to defame India in London.. See who came to support .’
As of 19 October, the post has received 383k views, 10k likes and 3.1k reposts.
In the comment section, one user called out the post, saying, ‘If I use AI to put Modi’s photo with a Pakistani flag right now, you’ll file a police case—you people have completely lost all your shame.’
Another user commented, ‘The vote thief spreads fake news. ‘
Several other social media accounts in India also circulated similar videos—for instance, Instagram user @Dr. Rohit Upadhyay (@rohitTeamBJP) shared the same content, making similar claims.
As of 19 October, the post has gathered 1.3k views.
The post can be divided into four claims.
Viral Pakistani protestor
The viral post claims that the protestor is Pakistani and includes an Instagram video purportedly showing him attending protests in London.
We conducted a reverse-image search of the post and traced it to the account ‘saddyjordan ’, whose real name on the profile appears to be Saddamhusen Makarani.
The account has 22.5k followers and describes the account holder as ‘Indian by blood’ and states that he is based in the United Kingdom. The account shows the user taking selfies with prominent Indian celebrities.
A reverse image search revealed that the second image, falsely claimed to show the person holding a Pakistani flag, was digitally manipulated using AI.
The original photo was a mirror selfie posted by the same user on 17 August 2021.
Media interview
The second image claims to show a media professional interviewing the protestors in London.
We noticed several discrepancies within the image. In the top-right corner, a semi-transparent Gemini AI watermark appears alongside the sparkle icon. Similarly, on closer inspection, the protestors’ posters in the background also appear distorted.
Screenshot of the X post shared by BJP Delhi
In addition, we used Hive AI to assess whether the video was AI-generated.
The results estimated that both photos had a 99.9% likelihood of being AI-generated.
‘The Azad Kashmir protestor’
The third image claims to show a person carrying the Azad Kashmir flag at the protest venue.
We analysed the video using Hive AI.
The results estimated that both photos had a 99.9% and 92.1% likelihood of being AI-generated.
‘The alleged Pakistani protestor’
The fourth viral image claims to show a Pakistani national attending the ‘Vote Chori’ protest in London.
We conducted a reverse image search using key frames from the video, which led us to a YouTube video uploaded by Umesh Dhande.
According to a report by The Times of India, keyframes from the video show students, including YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, protesting at London’s Parliament Square in October 2026 against the Election Commission of India’s handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The man appears at the 0:30 timestamp in the video, matching the individual identified in the X post. This video keyframe was taken out of context and shared by the official BJP Delhi X handle, alleging that Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal instructed supporters to defame India abroad.
Several similar claims alleging Pakistani participation in the ‘Vote Chori’ protests in London continue to circulate across various social media platforms.
Kiran Rijiju’s conspiracy theory
On 13 September, the X (formerly Twitter) account @KirenRijiju, the official handle of Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, and Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh, India, shared a video of a group of people waving Pakistani flags and singing the Indian national anthem in London. The caption in Hindi translates to, ‘Congress party flags with the flags of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan in London! These people think that gatherings of Anti-India gangs in London will intimidate the patriotic Indians. India will never bow down, and anti-India forces can never break India.
The post, shared on 19 October, has garnered 232.3k views, 3.9k likes and 1.2k reposts as of 20 October.
Pakistani and Bangladeshi participation
Similarly, another claim alleges that Modi forced Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to sing the Indian national anthem.
As of 20 October, the post has amassed more than 12k likes, 2.4k reposts and 233k views.
We conducted a reverse image search using key frames from both claims, which led us to an older version uploaded by an account named @amie.hashmi22 on 17 and 23 August. This indicates that both pieces of footage predate the claims regarding the ‘Vote Chori’ protests in London.
The original post’s caption states, ‘Every year on 15th August, I bring Pakistanis and Indians together in London to celebrate peace, unity and humanity.’ This indicates that the video was filmed during the August 14 and 15 celebrations marking the independence of India and Pakistan.
OBC’s analysis reveals that the viral claims surrounding the ‘Vote Chori’ protest in London are misleading and misrepresent the event. The claims relied on digitally manipulated content, including an AI-altered 2021 mirror selfie of a UK resident of Indian origin, fully AI-generated images, and recycled video footage from an unrelated event. While Indian students and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee did gather at London’s Parliament Square to demand the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner, there is no credible proof of Pakistani involvement.
