Recently, Bihar underwent elections for its Legislative Assembly. The elections were conducted in three phases between October 28 to November 7, 2020, and the results of the elections were declared on November 10. In the election, the alliance of BJP and JD(U) won over Mahagatbandhan, an alliance of Congress and RJD. Since then RJD and Congress have been alleging that the elections were rigged and in context to this, fake and misleading posts are going viral on social media.
Similarly, an image is being shared where a person is seen carrying an EVM (Electronic Voters Machine) in an isolated location. This image is being shared with the context that EVM was stolen during Bihar elections and fair elections did not happen. It is being shared to seek justice and reconduct Bihar elections.
One post says, "EVM की होगी जांच, नितीश जाएंगे जेल? पूछता है युवा, पूछता है बिहार EVM चोरी करके कहां ले जा रहा है। मोदी आयोग चोर है। ई कौन राज है भाई|" (Translates in English as, 'Will EVM be investigated, Will Nitish go to jail? Asks youth, asks Bihar, Where are you taking EVM after stealing? Modi Commission is a thief. What is the secret behind it?').
The post is viral on Facebook and the link can be seen here.
The post was also shared on Twitter.
Claim:
The image shared is of an EVM stolen during Bihar Assembly elections 2020.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian did a reverse image search on Source, a tool by Storyful and found the same image was tweeted by a Twitter handle S. Kumar on October 25, 2019.
We also did a Google reverse image search and found a tweet of District Information Office, Raigad with the same image shared with the caption, "Staff reaching polling stations in remote areas like Kalkarai. We are very proud of you." The image was tweeted on October 20, 2019.
On October 21, 2019, elections for Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was held. Thus this image belongs to Maharashtra Assembly Elections held in 2019 and not Bihar Assembly elections 2020. The image here portrays the person carrying EVM machines to remote locations for voting.
Despite the speculations, till now no news of EVM rigging or stealing has been reported in media in Bihar Assembly Elections 2020.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Yusha, an engineer turned journalist with a core interest in sensible journalism. Since the time she worked in an MNC, she saw how fake news was rife to malign images of communities, leaders, etc. This encouraged her to give up her career in MNC and passionately work towards curbing fake news and propaganda.
As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
A free spirit who find meaning in life with the virtue of creativity and doing job par its excellence, animal lover and traveller by heart.
Thank you for subscribing.
We have sent you a confirmation email.