A video showing a group of people sitting on the floor and counting ballot papers is being widely shared on social media, where users are claiming that it shows votes being counted in the Gazipur-2 constituency in the recently concluded 2026 Bangladesh elections.
Among those sharing these visuals were CNN News 18 journalist Rahul Shivshankar and news organisation Punjab Kesari.
How did we find out the truth?: We ran a keyword search with the term 'Bangladesh vote counting video' to check whether the claim was accurate.
The search led us to a video by news agency Reuters, which showed people counting two colours of papers, pink and white, unlike what was seen in the viral claim.
Other news reports by Al Jazeera English and DW News also showed that people had voted using pink as well as white ballot papers.
A report about voting by NDTV India noted that the elections were not only parliamentary elections, but also involved people voting for a constitutional referendum called the July National Charter.
This indicates that the video was not from the recent elections, as people had cast their vote for the government as well as the referendum.
The indication was confirmed by an X post by Bangladeshi journalist Shohanur Rahman, who confirmed that the video was an old one.
"...If you look closer the Awami League’s ‘Boat’ symbol on the ballot can be see (sic)," Rahman added.
A quick search with the term 'Awami League 2026 elections' showed us several news reports about the Awami League not contesting the recent polls.
For instance, these reports by Outlook and The New Indian Express noted that the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League was not present on ballots for the first time in three decades, with the latter noting that the party was barred from contesting the elections
A post shared by the party's official Facebook page also confirmed this, stating that none of the party's supporters would cast votes wherever the ballot did not carry the boat symbol.
Conclusion: While we could not establish when the video was taken, we can confirm that it is old and not related to the recent Parliamentary elections and referendum in Bangladesh.
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