As Charanjit Singh Channi was appointed and sworn in as the new chief minister of Punjab on Monday, 20 September, several Twitter handles in his name emerged on the microblogging platform.
However, we found that most of these accounts have changed their usernames and were impersonating Channi. The official Twitter handle of the new chief minister is '@CHARANJITCHANNI'.
ACCOUNT 1: @Charanjitchinni
The Twitter handle '@Charanjitchinni' posing as the official handle of Punjab CM, joined the social media platform in June 2021, and had 11,800 followers at the time of writing this story.
Twitter profile of @Charanjitchinni.
(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)
We went through the replies received on various tweets shared by the Twitter handle: @Charanjitchinni, and came across a reply to a tweet shared by the said handle on 25 August.
However, the reply was to a handle called '@TanuMeenaIYC.'
A reply to a tweet shared by the imposter account hinted to the previous name of the handle.
(Source: Twitter/ Altered By The Quint)
Taking a cue from here, we searched on Twitter using '@TanuMeenaIYC' and the search result showed the present account in the name of Channi.
The search result showed the imposter account.
(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)
We also found that a tweet shared by the imposter handle in which the username was still '@TanuMeenaIYC.'
Left: Tweet shared by '@TanuMeenaIYC'. Right: Tweet shared by 'Charanjitchinni'.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Also, the imposter account misspells Charanjit Singh Channi's surname as 'chinni'.
The imposter account misspells Charanjit Singh Channi's surname as 'chinni'.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
ACCOUNT 2: @Chanranjit_Cm
Another account '@Chanranjit_Cm' that had joined the platform in 2017 and had tweeted 18,900 times at the time of writing the article.
We went through the Twitter timeline of '@Chanranjit_Cm' and found a tweet shared on 18 September, that displayed the handle as: '@SankhlaINC'.
One of the tweets shared by the account showed the handle name as '@SankhlaINC'.
(Source: Twitter/ Altered By The Quint)
Next, on searching on Twitter using the said handle, the result showed the Twitter handle '@Chanranjit_Cm'.
The search result showed the imposter account.
(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)
Even this Twitter handle misspelt the name of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi as 'Chanranjit'.
The Twitter handle incorrectly spelt Charanjit Singh Channi's name.
(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)
THEN, WHICH IS THE OFFICIAL HANDLE OF PUNJAB CM?
The official Twitter handle of Charanjit Singh Channi is '@CHARANJITCHANNI' and was created in November 2010.
The official account of Punjab CM.
(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)
The official Facebook account of Channi, too, mentions this account as the official handle of the new chief minister.
The official Facebook account of Channi, too, mentions this account as the official handle of the new chief minister.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
Official accounts of the Congress party, AICC general secretary Harish Rawat, among other follow the Punjab CM on Twitter. His account has over 11,000 followers.
List of followers of Punjab CM's official Twitter account.
(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)
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