Fact Check: Viral vote rigging video not related to ongoing Bengal polls

With the West Bengal Assembly elections underway, an old video of a polling agent illegally voting for two women has...

By Newsmeter Network  Published on  12 April 2021 10:51 AM GMT
Fact Check: Viral vote rigging video not related to ongoing Bengal polls

Hyderabad: With the West Bengal Assembly elections underway, an old video of a polling agent illegally voting for two women has resurfaced online.

Keya Ghosh, the vice-president of the BJP Mahila Morcha (West Bengal) shared the clip on Twitter and wrote, "Got from WA. This is how TMC has been doing rigging. @ECISVEEP." (archive)

Below are a few more tweets with the same video and claim. Click here to view the archives.


Fact Check:


NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found the same video had been posted along with several tweets in 2019. The political editor of Hindustan Times, Vinod Sharma, had shared the video on 15 May 2019. He wrote: "Another achievement #ElectionCommission. Shocking to say the least." This indicates that the viral video was not from the recent Bengal polls as it has been on the Internet since May 2019.


We also found the same video in a report by NewsCentral 24X7 dated 16 May 2019. The report included a screenshot of the viral video. Although the exact location of the incident is uncertain, the report suggests that it may have taken place somewhere in rural Bengal. "The exact source of the video and the place where this took place have not been ascertained yet. However, it has been suggested that it is from rural Bengal," the report read.

Although NewsMeter could not independently verify the location and the date when the incident took place, it is clear that the viral video is not related to the ongoing West Bengal Assembly elections as it has been on the Internet since 2019.


Claim Review:Viral vote rigging video related to ongoing Bengal polls
Claimed By:Social Media Users
Claim Reviewed By:Newsmeter
Claim Source:Social Media
Claim Fact Check:False
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