Video from 2022 West Bengal Municipal elections is being shared as evidence of rigging in the recently held 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Hyderabad by AIMIM - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 15, 2024
Update (23 May 2024): The same video (archive) is now being shared with claim that the BJP is rigging the 2024 general elections. However, as debunked in the article, the visuals are from the 2022 municipal elections in West Bengal and show a polling agent casting votes on behalf of others at Booth 106 of Ward 33 in South Dum Dum, West Bengal.
A video (here, here, here, & here) showing a man casting votes for others in a polling booth is being widely shared on social media, claiming that the video shows how AIMIM rigged the votes in the recently held 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bahadurpura, Hyderabad. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing rigging by AIMIM in Hyderabad’s Bahadurpura during the recently held 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Fact: This viral video shows visuals of a rigging incident that occurred during the 2022 municipal elections in West Bengal. According to news reports, these visuals show a polling agent casting votes on behalf of others at Booth 106 of Ward 33 in South Dum Dum, West Bengal. This video has nothing to do with the recently concluded 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Hyderabad. There have been no credible reports of any incidents of rigging occurring in Hyderabad during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
There have been no credible reports of any unlawful activities or incidents of rigging in Hyderabad during the recently held 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
To gather information about the viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using its keyframes. We discovered that the same video was published by TV9 Bangla on their YouTube channel on 27 February 2022. According to this video report, the incident took place in a polling booth at Lakeview School in Ward 33 of South Dum Dum Municipality in West Bengal.
During this search, we also discovered that the same visuals were shared by the official X(Twitter) handles of the West Bengal BJP and West Bengal Congress. Both parties alleged that the incident was perpetrated by the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
A further search using this clue led us to several Bengali news reports about this incident (here, here, and here). According to these reports, in February 2022, municipal elections were held in 108 municipalities across West Bengal. Widespread violence, rigging, and clashes with the police were reported from various parts of West Bengal. The visuals in the viral video are reported to be from booth number 106 in Ward 33 of the South Dum Dum Municipality in West Bengal. From this information, it is evident that the viral video shows visuals of rigging that occurred during the 2022 municipal elections in West Bengal.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana has also issued a statement (here, here and here) clarifying that the viral video is from 2022 in West Bengal and is unrelated to the 2024 Parliament elections in Telangana. The CEO has also urged users to refrain from sharing misinformation.
Factly previously debunked this video when it went viral, linking it to the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections (here).
To sum up, a video from the 2022 West Bengal Municipal elections is being shared as evidence of rigging in the recently held 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Hyderabad’s Bahadurpura by the AIMIM.
This article has been updated on 16 May 2024 to include the clarification by Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana.