Shivraj Singh Chouhan lauded for promptly ‘vacating official residence’. What is the truth?

शिवराज सिंह चौहान ने बंगला छोड़ने में 24 घंटे भी नहीं लगाए, स्टाफ़ से लेकर माली तक का व्यक्तिगत रूप से शुक्रिया अदा किया, मुख्यमंत्री निवास जैसा मिला था उससे बेहतर छोड़ कर गए..बाथरूम की टोटी क्या बाग़ से एक फूल भी नहीं तोड़ा..पद से थोड़े नीचे ज़रूर आए..पर क़द से बहुत ऊपर उठ गए। (Shivraj Singh Chouhan did not take even 24 hours to vacate his bungalow, thanked everyone personally from the gardener to the staff. Forget taps from bathrooms, (he) did not pluck a single flower from the garden. Although he is no longer CM, he has risen in stature- translated).

After the verdict of the recent assembly election in Madhya Pradesh, social media users supportive of the BJP have circulated the above message, claiming that former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has conducted himself with utmost dignity and grace while vacating his official residence following the BJP’s loss in the election.

शिवराज सिंह चौहान ने बंगला छोड़ने में 24 घंटे भी नहीं लगाए, स्टाफ़ से लेकर माली तक का व्यक्तिगत रूप से शुक्रिया अदा किया, मुख्यमंत्री निवास जैसा मिला था उससे बेहतर छोड़ कर गए..बाथरूम की टोटी क्या बाग़ से एक फूल भी नहीं तोड़ा..पद से थोड़े नीचे ज़रूर आए..पर क़द से बहुत ऊपर उठ गए।

— Bhaiyyaji (@bhaiyyajispeaks) December 14, 2018

The above tweet by a Twitter user @bhaiyyajispeaks has been retweeted a whopping 11,000 times. The message talks about taps in bathrooms being intact, in a snide reference to reports that former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav had removed taps and tiles from the bathroom of his official residence before vacating. Jitendra Pratap Singh, a Twitter user followed by PM Narendra Modi has also posted this message.

On Facebook, the same message has been shared by a page India With MODI. It has also been posted by another page, Modi Sena. A photograph accompanies the message on Facebook, in which Chouhan can be seen on a two-wheeler with his spouse seated behind, implying his simplicity while vacating the bungalow.

Several individual users have posted this message on their timelines. In all cases, the text is identical, suggesting that it is also circulating on WhatsApp.

The same was also published as a report by the fake news website Dainik Bharat on December 14, three days after the poll verdict was declared.

OFFICIAL RESIDENCE NOT VACATED YET

The claim floating on social media is false. According to reports, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has not yet vacated the bungalow allotted to him as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. A report by News18 Hindi dated December 14 stated that Chouhan is all set to move to a new residence following his party’s defeat.

However, there are no reports of him having vacated his bungalow yet. Lallantop has reported that the process for vacating the residence is still underway. Dainik Bhaskar has also reported that this social media claim is false.

Alt News reverse searched the photograph of Chouhan seated on a two-wheeler, but found no result. On further probing, we came across a tweet by a Madhya Pradesh Congress leader of June 2018. It had a photograph of Shivraj Singh Chouhan on a two-wheeler. While this photograph is not the same as the one circulating currently, the same two-wheeler can be seen. It was used to mock Chouhan prior to the assembly elections, and thus is not a recent photo.

#शिवराज_टैक्स_लूट कर स्कूटर मैं भागते हुए दिखे। अब तो जनता को पता है आने वाले दिनों में क्या करना है। pic.twitter.com/RnSX1QBjV1

— Jahid qureshi (@Jahidqureshi6) June 5, 2018

We also looked up the registration number of the vehicle on the website of the Madhya Pradesh Transport Department, and found that the registered address matches with the address of the official residence of Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Update: The initial version of the article incorrectly stated that the two photographs showing Shivraj Singh Chouhan seated on the two-wheeler are of the same event. The error is regretted.