Video of alleged vote tampering in Bengal municipal elections viral again

A verified X (Twitter) user named Narendra Modi Pariwar on May 16 shared a video of a man repeatedly pressing the EVM on behalf of other voters. Tagging BJP Hyderabad MP candidate Madhavi Latha, the user wrote, “…this is the video where a man is continuously pressing the EVM button…”

The video has been viewed close to 6.5 Lakh times and retweeted more than 9,000 times. This comes in the wake of Madhavi Latha alleging massive rigging in the Hyderabad constituency which voted on May 15. She also hinted that the BJP might seek repolling in some areas.

Another user named Naveen Mishra tweeted the same video on May 17 suggesting that it was from on the ongoing general elections.

Same Video was Viral in the Past

The same video went viral after the BJP had 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, 2022, The Live News shared the video and claimed that this was how Akhilesh Yadav was defeated in the elections. While the anchor mentioned that the channel could not confirm whether the video was real, he also stated, “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 garnered more than 4 lakh views as of this writing.

The video report was also circulated on Twitter and Facebook with the same claim. Alt News had 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

To sum up, 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.