Fake news alert: Manipur polling booth vandalization passed off as WB violence

"Mamata Banerjee's supporters storming a polling booth in Cooch Behar, West Bengal. EXCELLENT job done by the CRPF in pushing away the goons [sic]," a Twitter user said.

Click here and here to view the Twitter archives and here for the claim on Facebook.

Newsmeter found that the claim is false as the video dates back to 2019. It was shot in Kyamgei Muslim Makha Leikai polling station in Manipur.

FACT CHECK:

We performed a reverse image search of a keyframe from the viral video and found a video report by INDIA TODAY SOCIAL from April 2019 that carried the same visuals. The description of the video reads: "Polling in Kyamgei Muslim Makha Leikai area of Imphal East was disrupted after people stormed the polling station and destroyed EVM".

We then searched on Youtube with the keywords ' 2019 Kyamgei Muslim Makha Leika EVM' and found several reports by media organizations that claimed the visuals were from a Manipur polling station.

According to NDTV, the voting in the Kiyamgei High Madrassa polling station in the Imphal east district of Manipur was disrupted after voters turned violent over the alleged misconduct of the presiding officer of the booth. A large number of voters ransacked the polling booth alleging foul play by the presiding officers. EVMs, VVPATs, and CCTV cameras installed in the polling station were destroyed.

We also found a report by PTI published in Business Standard. According to the report, unidentified men stormed into one of the booths at the Kiyamgei Muslim Makha locality and broke EVMs and VVPATs, claiming that "proxy voting" was being carried out in the station.

The 2019 viral video is from Manipur. Unidentified men broke the EVM over alleged proxy voting.

Therefore, the claim that this incident took place in West Bengal's Cooch Behar during the fourth phase of the ongoing Assembly elections is false.