New Delhi: A video was recently shared on social media, with users claiming that it showed an AIMIM candidate from the Mustafabad constituency, Tahir Hussain, holding a large public rally after his defeat in the recently concluded Delhi Assembly elections. However, an investigation by the PTI Fact Check Desk found that the viral video showed Hussain campaigning during the run-up to the Assembly polls. The viral video was shared on social media with a false claim.
Hussain contested from the Mustafabad constituency and bagged 33,474 votes to secure the third position after BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht and AAP’s Adeel Ahmad Khan. Bisht won by securing 85,215 votes. Hussain was suspended from AAP in 2020, after being named as an accused in a case linked to the death of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma during the riots in Northeast Delhi in February 2020, which left 53 people dead.
Claim
An X (formerly Twitter) user shared on February 8 a video of AIMIM leader Tahir Hussain, claiming that he took out a huge procession after his defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections.
The caption of the post, originally in Hindi, read: “Procession of Tahir Hussain after defeat. What did you understand by seeing this crowd?”
Here is the link and archive link to the post and below is a screenshot of the same.
Investigation
The Desk ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found a few keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk came across several other social media posts, which carried the same video with similar claims.
Two such posts can be found here and here, and their archived versions can be found here and here, respectively.
Initially, the Desk conducted customised keyword research on Google and found several news reports which mentioned that he was granted six-day in-custodial parole from January 29, 2025, to February 3, 202,5 for canvassing for 12 hours daily.
Here is the link to a report published by Hindustan Times on January 30, 2025. The headline of the report read: “After 12 hours of canvassing, Tahir Hussain back in jail”
Here is the link to the report.
“On Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted Hussain a six-day custodial parole to campaign for 12 hours daily till February 3. He left Tihar around 6 am and hit the streets of Mustafabad by 8 am. Addressing a gathering at 25 Futa Road, he credited “the people’s love” for his candidacy,” read a section of the report.
On further scanning the search results, the Desk found a reel uploaded on Tahir Hussain’s official Facebook page on February 3, 2025.