Old video from WB passed off as vote rigging in Karnataka polls

Social Media users are sharing a video claiming it shows vote rigging during the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections.

In the video, a polling agent can be seen seated at a desk, and another man in a blue t-shirt is pressing EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) on behalf of voters entering the booth.

The claim comes after Congress’s victory in Karnataka. The party has won 135 seats with a vote share of 42.88 per cent.

A Twitter user shared the video and wrote, “This is how Congress won in Karnataka. Fake voting.”

Several others have also shared the video claiming the same. (Click here and here to see more posts.)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video dates back to February 2022 and was reportedly taken during the municipal elections in West Bengal.

We noticed that the people in the video were talking in Bangla. Taking this as a cue, we performed a reverse image search of the video's keyframe using keywords. We found the video posted by the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) on 27 February 2022. Both parties had accused Trinamool Congress (TMC) of vote rigging.

Congress party also posted on the same date images similar to the visuals in the video accusing the TMC of vote rigging.

Further, we found the video published by TV9 Bangla on 27 February. It said that during the West Bengal municipal election of 2022, an agent was voting in booth no.108 of ward no. 33 of South Dumdum.

The video was also published by another Bengali digital channel 'Aarohi News', on 27 February. It said the incident occurred in South Dumdum.

The video is from the West Bengal municipal election, which happened in February last year. Hence, the claim that the video shows vote rigging in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls is misleading.