A letter purportedly issued by the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) West Bengal unit is doing the rounds on social media platforms amid the ongoing state assembly elections.
What is the claim?: Those sharing the viral letter have claimed that the BJP has asked its Mandal presidents to make necessary arrangements for its party workers arriving from other states for voting purposes.
Who shared it?: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh, on its official X handle, shared the letter with a similar claim.
Is this claim true?: The letter is fake. There is no available evidence to prove that BJP West Bengal has indeed made such a statement.
What led us to the truth?: We went through the official website of BJP West Bengal to check if they had indeed shared the press release recently. However, we did not find any such letter uploaded on the website.
Next, we went through the older press releases that were available. One of them, which was shared on 20 January 2024, looked similar to the viral document.
The serial number of both the letters matched till "495" and had the same format.
Even the six names along with their designations under "for information" appeared to be the same.
Other discrepancies: The viral letter showed the signature of Jagannath Chattopadhay, who is named as the State General Secretary and State Office Incharge of BJP in West Bengal.
A recent perusal of the BJP West Bengal's website showed that Chattopadhay serves as the party's state vice-president.
Further, we noticed that only three names under the "for information" section were still mentioned on the BJP's state office bearer's list.
BJP denies the claim: The official X handle of BJP West Bengal, on 20 April, clarified that the viral letter was "fake". It further said, "There is no such circular. TMC’s Fake news factory is in overdrive now that loss is imminent."
Conclusion: It is evident that the viral letter is fake and is being shared with an incorrect claim.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)