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| - Fact Check: Old video from Manipur shared as TMC men raiding Cooch Behar polling booth
A video is going viral on social media with the claim that it shows supporters of Mamata Banerjee storming a polling booth in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district.
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India Today Fact Check
The incident took place at Kiyamgei High Madrassa polling station in Imphal East district of Manipur during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Polling was disrupted after voters turned violent over alleged misconduct of the presiding officer.
On April 10, four people were killed in clashes between locals and CISF personnel at Sitalkuchi in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district. The CISF alleged that the mob was trying to snatch their weapons, forcing them to open fire. The incident took place on a day the fourth phase of elections in the state was underway.
While the blame game between the Trinamool Congress and BJP continues over the Sitalkuchi violence, a video is circulating on social media with the claim that it shows supporters of Mamata Banerjee storming a polling booth in Cooch Behar. The video shows a group of people trying to ransack a voting centre and security personnel pushing them away. Gunshots can also be heard.
The caption along with the video says, “Mamata Banerjee’s supporters mob storming a polling booth in coochbihar, West Bengal. EXCELLENT job done by the CRPF in pushing away the goons #WestBengalPolls”.
Mamata Banerjee's supporters mob storming a polling booth in coochbihar, West Bengal.
EXCELLENT job done by the CRPF in pushing away the goons...#WestBengalPolls pic.twitter.com/HMXhgANZJp— Krishna ® (@FuriousKrishna) April 13, 2021
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim along with the video to be misleading. The incident took place at Kiyamgei High Madrassa polling station in Imphal East district of Manipur during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here, here and here.
AFWA probe
Using the InVID tool, we found the viral video is from 2019 and not related to Bengal.
The same video was carried in a 2019 report by NDTV. According to the report, violence erupted during the 2019 general election at Kiyamgei High Madrassa polling centre in Manipur’s Imphal East district.
The incident was also reported by Firstpost, The New Indian Express and Imphal Times.
According to these reports, on April 18, 2019, a large number of voters ransacked the polling station over the alleged misconduct of the presiding officer. Following this, security personnel deployed at the voting centre fired tear gas and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd.
While the presiding officer, micro observer and at least four civilians were reported injured in the incident, no life was lost. On the other hand, four people were killed in the Sitalkuchi violence on April 10, 2021. An India Today video report showing the moments before the firing can be seen below.
Hence, it is clear that the video in question is two years old and not related to the Cooch Behar incident.
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