Claim: An image shows PTI’s founder Imran Khan casting his vote inside Adiala Jail.
Fact: The claim is false as the image is from the 2018 general elections. It is not recent and does not show Imran Khan inside the Adiala jail.
Elections 2024
In light of the general elections on 8 February 2024, the political landscape is characterised by distinct circumstances for major political parties, and the shadow of alleged military interference. Just a week before the election, Khan was given three additional sentences:
Fourteen years in the Toshakhana case
Ten years in the cipher case
Seven years in a case about his marriage being ruled un-Islamic
In 2018, the PTI emerged as the single largest party in the parliament, forming governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In the days leading up to the general elections of 2024, Soch Fact Check has observed an influx of false and misleading claims, that may impact public opinion and voter behaviour.
Fact or Fiction?
On 7 February 2024, an account on X (formerly Twitter) posted an image (archive) with the caption, “Imran Khan has cast his vote in Adiala Jail.”
The image shows Imran Khan in a traditional white Pakistani suit, standing near a ballot box along with two guards dressed in black suits. The tweet implies that the image shows Imran Khan casting his vote in the general election 2024.
To investigate, Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search on Google. The results showed a news story by Dawn Urdu published on 14 October 2018. When translated into English the headline reads, “By-elections: Polling on 35 National and Provincial Assembly seats.”
Dawn Urdu in the article reports, “The polling process continued uninterruptedly from 8 am to 5 pm under strict security. More than 600 candidates contested for the by-elections in 11 constituencies of the National Assembly and 11 constituencies of Punjab Assembly, 9 constituencies of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 2 constituencies of Sindh and Balochistan Assemblies across the country.” The same image as that of the post in question was featured in the news article, with the caption that it shows Imran Khan, the prime minister at the time, casting his vote.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s official Facebook page also posted the same image on 14 October 2018 with the caption, “I just cast my vote, we need your support to continue in our mission for Naya Pakistan … have you cast your vote? #BallayPeThappa”
An article titled, “By-polls 2018: PTI, PML-N lock horns to bag maximum seats” in Arab News, features the same image with a caption saying that the image shows Imran Khan casting his vote in NA-53 constituency in Rawalpindi at the time.
Screenshot of Arab News article from 2018
It is also to be noted that Imran Khan is currently in Adiala Jail and, therefore, has not traditionally voted for the 2024 general elections. Instead, Khan cast his vote from jail via postal ballots and there is no picture of this event from jail that has been reported within the media.
Virality
On X, the old image received 91,000 views, 1,600 likes and 167 reposts within hours of being posted. The archived versions can also be seen here.
Similar posts were shared here and here on Facebook, and here on Instagram.
Conclusion: An image claiming to show Imran Khan cast his vote in Adiala jail is not from the 2024 general elections. The image is old and is from the October 2018 by-polls in Pakistan.
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Background image in cover photo: Friday Times
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