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| - Fact Check: No, these EVMs in Bihar were not meant for rigging polls
India Today Anti Fake News War Room found the claims to be misleading as those EVMs were not used during the voting process for the 2019 election. Instead, they were deployed only for training purposes ahead of counting.
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India Today Fact Check
The Election Commission and the Chapra district DM confirmed that the EVMs were used for training purposes.
As the May 23 counting day comes closer, social media is getting flooded with fake and misleading posts about EVMs.
A few Facebook users and RJD's official Facebook page posted three photos claiming that a pick-up van full of EVMs was caught by RJD and Congress workers near Bihar's Saran and Maharajganj Lok Sabha constituency just as it was trying to enter the election strong room. RJD's official Facebook and Twitter pages also shared those photos with the same claim.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room found the claims to be misleading as those EVMs were not used during the voting process for the 2019 election. Instead, they were deployed only for training purposes ahead of counting.
On May 20, RJD's official Facebook page and Twitter handle posted three photos claiming in Hindi which translates ''..a vehicle full of EVMs was caught by people near the strong room of Bihar's Saran and Maharajganj Loksabha constituency. It was roaming around the strong room and probably was looking for an opportunity to enter. It was caught by RJD-Congress workers''
- - EVM - BDO ? ?? pic.twitter.com/K1dZCsZNAG Rashtriya Janata Dal (@RJDforIndia) May 20, 2019
By the time of writing this article, the post was shared more than 66 thousand times.
The archive version of the Facebook and Twitter posts are here.
A number of people and Facebook pages shared the post. Facebook users Heena Shahab, Md Ahasan Khan, Deepak Arya posted the same photos with the same claim.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room did a reverse search of the photos and found nothing substantial that supports the claim.
We also located the vehicle number of the pick-up van BR04B9659. We found out that it was registered in Chhapra district.
AFWA reached out to the District Magistrate of the Chhapra district Subrata Kumar Sen and asked about the claims. He said, ''This pick-up van with 12 EVMs and 12 VVptas was heading from Lalit Narayan Brahmin School to Chhapra District Sadar Block warehouse after conducting a round of training for the counting personnel.''
We also found a handwritten letter, signed by Prof. Dr. Lalbabu Yadav, election agent of the RJD candidate from Saran, Chandrika Roy. The letter reads in Hindi, 'I am satisfied with the proceedings and it is very transparent. There is no problem with the entire process.''
The DM confirmed that the RJD candidate Chandrika Roy and his Election agent Professor Lalbabu Yadav were satisfied with the entire proceedings and signed the letter.
For further clarification, AFWA spoke to the Election Commission spokesperson who further confirmed that the letter was indeed signed by Lalbabu Yadav and the EVMs were used for training purposes.
Later, Lalbabu Yadav spoke to local reporters and accepted that there was a misunderstanding regarding the EVM issue.
But it is difficult to ascertain whether this car was hovering around the Chhapra district strong room or not.
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