Video of alleged vote tampering in WB municipal elections viral as recent UP polls

The BJP won 255 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged foul play via EVM fraud by the BJP following the vote-counting process. On March 13, The Live News shared a video of a man slipping in ballots on behalf of others inside a poll booth. The outlet claimed that this was how Akhilesh Yadav was defeated in the elections. While the anchor mentions that the channel could not confirm whether the video was real, he also states, “This video shows the extent of foul play going on in the Uttar Pradesh elections. The allegations and visuals of this foul play clearly expose what’s going on.” (Archive link) The outlet has a verified channel on YouTube and the clip has garnered more than 4 lakh views as of this writing.

The video report is being circulated on Twitter and Facebook with the same claim. Alt News has received multiple requests on its WhatsApp helpline number to verify the authenticity of this video.

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Fact-check

We performed a reverse image search using the video frames. This led us to a video report by TV9 Bangla dated February 27, 2022. The article covers the 2022 municipal elections in West Bengal. It states that a man forcibly pressed the ballot button on voters’ behalf in Ward No. 33 of the South Dum Dum Nagar constituency.

Khabor 24×7 covered the incident. Its report mentioned that a case of vote tampering came to light at polling booth No. 106 of Ward No. 33 of the South Dum Dum Nagar constituency. On February 27, Agnimitra Paul of the BJP shared the video as the Dum Dum Nagar municipal ward.

BJP Bengal also tweeted the video questioning the TMC over alleged vote tampering and foul play.

TMC forces pressing the button before going to press the voting button.

Stop the farce in the name of election! Democracy today is ashamed, looted by TMC supporters! pic.twitter.com/EeYUTOPggH

— BJP Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) February 27, 2022

Ultimately, a video of vote tampering during municipal elections in West Bengal was falsely circulated as visuals of foul play in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.