A video of a crowd walking with sticks and brooms in their hands on the streets is being circulated on social media platforms as a recent incident from West Bengal.
What's the claim?: An X (formerly Twitter) premium user called 'SK Chakraborty' shared the clip with a caption saying, "See how they have come out against SIR(Special Intensive Revision of Voters’ List) in West Bengal. Illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas must be deported."
What's the truth?: The video could be traced back to at least September of this year, which predates the announcement of the SIR in West Bengal. This makes the viral claim misleading.
How did we find that out?: Using the help of Google Lens, we conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video. This led us to the same visuals uploaded on a Facebook handle named 'Biplob Biplob'.
It was uploaded on 15 September.
The post's caption was in Bangla, which loosely translated to, "Video picture of today's movement".
The handle's bio indicated that the user lives in Bangladesh.
SIR in West Bengal: A Press Information Bureau (PIB) press release said that the Election Commission of India, on 27 October, ordered special intensive revision (SIR) in nine states and three union territories.
The nine states were - Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry were the three UTs.
The enumeration period began on 4 November and will continue till 4 December.
Conclusion: While we could not independently verify the date and context of the viral video, it is clear that the video predated the announcement of the SIR in West Bengal.
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