Did a man beat up electricity board employees & refused to pay bills in Karnataka?
Rishi Bagree falsely claims a consumer in Karnataka refusing to pay for electricity bills citing Congress' promise of 200 units free electricity.
Claim
Electricity officials are attacked by local residents in Karnataka when they came for meter reading. Residents says that they won’t pay from electricity now onwards as per Congress Guarantee
Rating
Explanation
A video is circulated in social media with claims that people of Karnataka are refusing to pay for electricity bills, due to the Congress’ promise of free electricity up to 200 units.
Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections were held on 10th May 2023 and results were declared on 13th May 2023. Indian National Congress (INC) formed the government with 135 seats, unseating the previous government headed by BJP which managed to win 66 seats. In the runup to the elections, Congress promised 200 units of free electricity which was called as Gruha Jyothi plan.
After the elections, there are several reports that people from various parts of Karnataka are refusing to pay electricity bill are propping up. One such claim is made along with the video which is shared by popular right-winger Rishi Bagree and many others.
What’s the truth ?
Listening to the audio, it was clear that the dispute was not about the 200 units of free electricity. From the audio, we were able to find out that the issue was due to a meter (EB Connection) which needs name changing which was not done for 3 years. Some pointed out the same in Rishi Bagree’s tweet.
Although I am a BJP supporter, the context of the fight is different and not related to the free electricity promise.
From what I heard in the video, the guy is upset over name not being changed even after three years of putting in a request!! https://t.co/L2WKq9z3sf
— Sneha R 🇮🇳 (@SnehaChawdhary) May 24, 2023
Upon further search, we were able to find out a statement from Koppal’s Superintendent of Police who clarified that the person in the viral video is Chandrashekhar Hiremath. According to the police statement, he had dues of electricity bill amounting to over Rs.9,000/- for which the power supply was disconnected. However, Chandrashekhar had been drawing power after unlawfully reconnecting to the power supply by himself, without clearing the pending dues. Hence, the Electricity Board employees tried to disconnect the power and that is when the altercation happened which was filmed.
Misleading claim by @rishibagree.
Here's what Koppal SP said about the incident, "Chandrashekhar Hiremath had pending electricity bill of Rs 9000. GESCOM had disconnected supply over dues. He illegally restored power supply. When questioned by authorities, he assaulted them." https://t.co/EMDW9Mc4Ct pic.twitter.com/BaJd0Ueuua
— Anusha Ravi Sood (@anusharavi10) May 24, 2023
So, this incident is not due to consumers refusing to pay electricity bills due to the 200 units of free electricity poll promise by the Congress, although there have been other such incidents.
It is important to note that Rishi Bagree had indulged in spreading falsehood, misinformation and disinformation in the past as well. AltNews had compiled a list of misinformation spread by him way back in 2018. We at YouTurn have fact-checked many such claims as well which are listed below.
- Were Bharat Jodo Yatris including Rahul Gandhi coming out of a bar one by one stumbling?
- BJP supporters use a picture from 2013 to portray Haldwani & Muslims in bad light.
- Were Oreva hoardings covered when PM Modi visited Morbi bridge incident site?
- BJP supporters mislead Rahul Gandhi is unaware of mic off when he speaks.
- Was the Mahatma title given to Gandhi by the British?
- Did BBC remove Kashmir from India Map?
- Bharat Jodo Yatra did halt for Diwali and Dussehra unlike Rishi Bagree and Rohit Chahal claim
- Rishi Bagree spreads misinformation to defend Adani Group.
- Rishi Bagree misleads about MGNREGA allocations.
Conclusion
This incident was due to an altercation between a consumer who has not paid his electricity bills and illegally drawing power after disconnection of service and the electricity board employees. This is shared with false claims that consumers are not paying bills due to Congress’ poll promise.
