DigitEye India Fact Checkers
As voting for the Lok Sabha elections is going to start from April 19 to June 1, 2024, several claims and counter-claims are going viral on social media. One such claim with an image of people holding placards proclaiming “No Vote To BJP” at different locations is being shared online.
Meanwhile in Bengal #NoVoteToBJP pic.twitter.com/M9LO1nuEgy
— DMK IT WING (@DMKITwing) March 19, 2024
FACT CHECK
Digiteye India checked for the source of the image on Google Reverse Image Search and found that the image was as old as three years. The results in Google image search showed that the picture was from a video uploaded to the YouTube channel “No Vote To BJP” on February 13, 2021.
The description says, “A large number of people unanimously expressed their views to not vote for BJP at several iconic places of Kolkata. [In Bengali, it read: কলকাতার বিভিন্ন দ্রষ্টব্য স্থানে বহু মানুষ একত্রে বিজেপিকে ভোট না দেওয়ার আবেদন করছেন।]”. This campaign was part of the Trinamool Congress campaign during the 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal.
The Youtube channel is currently inactive. It was launched in 2021 by a group of activists ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections. Even during the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2023, similar videos went viral. Hence, the claim that it was a recent one with the current date is false.
Claim: Video showing placards of ‘No Vote to BJP’ at different places in Kolkata.
Conclusion: False. It was an old video used during the 2021 Assembly elections to the West Bengal Assembly.
Rating: Misleading — 
