Video From Manipur Peddled As Mob Storming Polling Booth In Cooch Behar

A video of a mob storming a polling station in Manipur's Kyamgei in 2019 has surfaced with claims that it shows Trinamool Congress supporters roughing up security personnel in Bengal's Cooch Behar.

The video is viral in the backdrop of the poll violence in the fourth phase of voting in Cooch Behar on April 10. Two separate incidents killed five people in Cooch Behar's Shitalkuchi. According to reports four people died after CISF firing at poll booth number 126 in Sitalkuchi. One person was killed in a separate incident at poll booth number 285 in Sitalkuchi. Following the deaths, several claims and counter claims have emerged about who initiated the attack first. The TMC has also approached the Election Commission of India asking a probe and action against the CISF personnel who opened fire at Sitalkuchi poll booth no 126.

The viral video shows a polling booth disrupted by a mob, moments later they are disbursed by security officials who were deployed inside the polling booth.

The video has been shared on Twitter with a caption which reads, "Mamata Banerjee's supporters mob storming a polling booth in coochbihar, West Bengal. EXCELLENT job done by the CRPF in pushing away the goons... #WestBengalPolls." (sic.)

The tweet is archived here.

Mamata Banerjee's supporters mob storming a polling booth in coochbihar, West Bengal.

EXCELLENT job done by the CRPF in pushing away the goons...#WestBengalPolls pic.twitter.com/WTu2W4IzPD
— Subba Rao 🇮🇳🇮🇳 (@TNSubbaRao1) April 12, 2021

The same is viral on Facebook as well.

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Fact Check

BOOM broke the video into its key frames and ran a reverse image search on one of its frames.

The same video was uploaded on India Today's YouTube channel on April 18, 2019. According to the description of the video, "Polling in Kyamgei Muslim Makha Leikai area of Imphal East was disrupted after people stormed the polling station and destroyed EVM. #UserGeneratedContent."

A further keyword search on YouTube led us to the same video uploaded by The New Indian Express on April 18 with the caption, "India Elections 2019: Violence disrupts polling in Inner Manipur. According to the description of the video, #CRPF personnel opened blank fire and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse a crowd in #Manipur. The crowd allegedly tried to barge into Kyamgei Muslim Makha Leikaik polling station of Inner Manipur seat."

Additionally, we were able to see Kiyamgei Muslim written on the boards in one of the frames of the viral video. A longer version of the same video was uploaded on Imphal Free Press' Facebook page on April 18, 2019.

According to reports the Kyamgei Muslim Makha Leikai of Imphal polling booth witnessed major disruption during the election of the Inner Manipur Parliamentary seat.

An excerpt from an Eastmojo report reads, "People who were stranded for a long time following malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) got angry and stormed into the polling station destroying EVM and VVPAT machines. In a shocking video that was recorded by some poling agents deployed in the station, it clearly shows irate people throwing stones and breaking into the poll booth forcefully despite being stopped by polling officials. Meanwhile, security personnel who were deployed in the polling station, resorted quickly to firing blank shots in the air and lathi-charging in order to disperse the irate voters gathered at the poll booth."

Also Read: BJP Bengal Leaders Share Photo Of Injured CISF Jawan With Fake Claim

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Video From Manipur Peddled As Mob Storming Polling Booth In Cooch Behar

BOOM found that the video is from 2019, when a mob stormed into a polling booth in Manipur's Kyamgei area

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