Fake ‘Wire’ clipping viral claiming Modi asked ECI to add fake voters in Bihar

A photograph apparently showing part of an article by media outlet The Wire is being shared on social media. The image features a purported quotation by the election commissioner of India who is named as Sukhbir Singh Sidhu. He is quoted as saying, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi summoned me and chief election officer Gyanesh Kumar to his office and told us to add a million fake voters across various constituencies in Bihar.” 

X user Sheikh Hamdan Ali Khalli shared the image on October 9, 2025 condemning the Prime Minister. (Archive)

PM Modi personally ordered me and CEC Gyanesh Kumar to add a million fake voters in Bihar,” claims Election Commissioner Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sidhu
Shame On Modi #ECGate #ModiExposed #FakeVoters #BiharElections #DemocracyInDanger pic.twitter.com/f5GFXFdjyR

— Sheikh Hamdan Ali Khalili (@Sindhbabulislm) October 8, 2025

Several other users shared the purported screenshot of the alleged report by The Wire. A few of them can be seen here: 

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Fact Check

First of all, the name of the election commissioner of India is Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, and not Sukhbir Singh Sidhu. Such a glaring error raises doubts about the authenticity of the screenshot at the very outset.

Secondly, the screenshot appears to be fake also because the long quotation, which is written in bold font and across seven decks, cannot be the headline of a story, though it is positioned in the image like one. When we compared it with the content on The Wire website, we found that the font was different from that used by The Wire.   

The screenshot also features a ‘National’ label, but there exists to such section on The Wire’s website. 

We also performed a keyword search, but did not find any such report on the website. Nor was such a statement reported by any other media outlet. 

The Wire editor Seema Chisti confirmed to Alt News that the image was fake. “The screenshot is a fabrication. The Wire has published no such story,” she said.

To sum up, the screenshot, which claims to show an article by The Wire quoting the election commission of India Dr ‘Sukhbir Singh Sidhu’ as saying the PM Modi asked EC to add fake votes in Bihar, is entirely false and fabricated.