A graphic showing the schedule of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections has gone viral with the false claim that it shows the dates of the impending elections to West Bengal’s legislative Assembly.
CLAIM
The graphic was shared with the caption that said, “West Bengal Election Dates”. It was titled, “West Bengal Election Dates: State to vote in 7 phases from April 1 to May 19 Year - 2021”.
It went on to list the names of the constituencies alongside the dates and phases. The graphic also states that counting of the votes would take place on 23 May this year.
We found the image was shared widely on Facebook and Twitter.
We also received the image as a query on our WhatsApp tipline.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The West Bengal Assembly elections are set to happen later this year. However, the dates for those are yet to be announced by the Election Commission of India. We found no announcements on the ECI’s website about the dates of the upcoming elections.
We also found two errors in the viral image. The constituency names mentioned in the viral image were the 42 parliamentary constituencies and not the 294 Assembly constituencies where the elections will be held.
Secondly, a line at the bottom of the image said that the “general elections” will be held in “seven phases across India”, instead of West Bengal.
Taking a cue from the errors in the viral image, we looked up the dates of the general elections 2019 that were held in the months of April and May 2019.
We found that the dates and constituencies mentioned in the viral image were that of the general Assembly elections of 2019. The list was also seen on the website of the Election Commission.
The previous Assembly elections that took place in 2016 were held in six phases that started on 4 April 2016 and ended on 5 May 2016. The dates for this year’s elections are yet to be announced.
Therefore, a graphic was shared on the internet to falsely claim that the dates of the 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections were announced.
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