A viral graphic has used the schedule of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, purporting them as the dates of the impending elections to West Bengal's legislative assembly.
The graphic has shown a seven-phased election with dates from April 11, 2021 till May 19, 2021 and the names of 41 constituencies that would go the elections across all these phases. The graphic also states that counting of the votes would take place on May 23 this year. Incidentally, West Bengal had elections across the state in 2019 during the Lok Sabha on these same dates across seven phases, and the counting took place on May 23, 2019.
The Election Commission is yet to release the dates for election to the state, which will also see the states of Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry going to the polls.
There are 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, while there are 289 assembly constituencies in the state.
The graphic can be seen below. The graphic shows seven election phases, titiled 'West Bengal Election Dates: State to vote in 7 phases from April 1 to May 19. Year - 2021'.
BOOM recieved a request to verify this on its WhatsApp helpline (7700906588).
On performing a reverse image search, BOOM found this image to be viral on social media as well, with various users thinking that the election date has actually been announced.
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FactCheck
These dates are of the Lok Sabha election that took place in 2019.
The elections went on in seven phases, with West Bengal having polls in parliamentary constituencies across the state in each phase.
The schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, 2019, for its 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, is as follows. It can be verified from pages 112 - 114 from this Election Commission document, which is the detailed announcement of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
On further observation of the graphic, there is an error to be spotted. In the last line of the image, there exists a line stating, "The Election Commission announced that the general election will be held in seven phases across India and the final counting of votes will take place May 23." This is an indication that it is referring to a nationwide election.
This can be seen below.
Further, the graphic incorrectly outlines 41 Lok Sabha constituencies, while the elections will be to the 289 assembly constituencies.
In 2016, the elections took place from April 4 to May 5 across six phases. The election dates for this year's elections are yet to be announced. The competition between the incumbent government of the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee and between its seemingly main challenger - the Bharatiya Janata Party - is expected to be stiff.