On 07 August 2025, Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi held a press conference, accusing the Election Commission of manipulating the voter list, calling it “vote chori.” On 17 August 2025, the Election Commission rejected these allegations, dismissing any irregularities in Bihar’s special intensive revision exercise. On the same day, Rahul Gandhi launched the 16-day ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ from Sasaram, Bihar, covering over 1,300 km across more than 20 districts to highlight the issue (here, here, and here). Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress (TMC), have been vocal and actively participating in “vote chori” rallies and protests (here, here, and here).
In this context, a video circulating on social media (here, here, and here) claims that school students are chanting “BJP Zindabad” slogans from a school bus at a TMC rally against “vote chori” in Siliguri, West Bengal. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: The video shows school students chanting “BJP Zindabad” from a school bus at a TMC rally in Siliguri, West Bengal, against the 2025 “vote chori” issue.
Fact: The video shows school students chanting “BJP Zindabad” from a school bus during a Trinamool Congress rally on 21 November 2022, on Hillcart Road in Siliguri, West Bengal. The rally was held demanding action on the cases against two BJP MPs and protesting the BJP’s alleged divisive agenda in Bengal. The footage predates the 2025 ‘vote chori’ issue and is unrelated to it. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
We noticed that the viral video carries the logo of RNF News Rajganj. To verify its source, we checked the RNF News Rajganj Facebook page and found an extended version of the same video, which was uploaded there on 21 November 2022. This confirms that the footage predates the current ‘vote chori’ issue and is unrelated to it. The caption of the post stated that it shows students chanting ‘BJP Zindabad’ alongside a Trinamool rally in Siliguri.
We also found that several media outlets covered this incident at that time. According to these reports (here, here, and here), the video is from 21 November 2022 and was recorded on Hillcart Road in Siliguri.
The Trinamool Congress reportedly held a rally in this commercial hub of North Bengal to protest the BJP’s alleged ‘divisive agenda’ of carving out a separate state by splitting the region from the south. The party also questioned why the central government had not taken action against two then BJP MPs from the region, Union Minister of State (Minority Affairs) John Barla and Union Minister of State (Home Affairs) Nisith Pramanik, who were accused in separate cases in 2019 and 2009, respectively.
To sum up, an old, unrelated video of school students chanting “BJP Zindabad” at a TMC rally in Siliguri is shared falsely linking it to the 2025 vote chori controversy.
