Fact Check: No, 66 EVMs not seized from Bengal BJP leader's house
newspaper clipping claiming that 66 fake Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were seized from the house of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has gone
By Newsmeter Network Published on 27 March 2021 12:00 PM GMT
Hyderabad: The much-awaited West Bengal Assembly elections are scheduled to be held from 27 March to 29 April. Amidst this, a newspaper clipping claiming that 66 fake Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were seized from the house of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has gone viral on social media. It is being claimed that the incident took place in West Bengal.
The claim when translated in English reads: "All preparations have been made to form a majority government in Bengal, brothers."
Click here and here to view similar claims.
Fact Check:
NewsMeter found that the news clipping is from Rajasthan's Ajmer district and not West Bengal.
A keyword search led to a tweet from 2018 that also had the same image. The report said the incident took place in Beawar, a city in Rajasthan's Ajmer district.
According to reports by Patrika and India TV News, the city police caught 66 "symbolic EVM promotional material" from a house. The election symbol and the name of Independent candidate Surendra Goyal from Jaitaran region was mentioned in them. Goyal was a former BJP minister and had contested the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly elections as an Independent candidate.
A local reporter confirmed to Quint's WebQoof team that the viral clipping is old and is from Beawar in Ajmer district.
It is clear that the claim that 66 EVM's were seized from the house of a BJP leader in West Bengal is FALSE. The incident took place in 2018 in Rajasthan.
