The counting of votes for the 2026 Assembly election will be conducted in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the Union Territory of Puducherry on April 4. A video now going viral alleges to show people shouting slogans of vote theft.
Sharing the video, an X user wrote, “West Bengal election results will be announced on May 4. BJP’s Amit Shah has taken control of the Election Commission office. Mamata Banerjee should call for a shutdown of the entire state of West Bengal; the state should be shut down today.” They also claimed that the video was from Kolkata.
India Today Fact Check found that the video is from Bihar’s Sasaram and was recorded in November 2025, before the counting of Assembly election votes in the state.
OUR PROBE
We reviewed the comments on the viral post and found one person stating that the video was from Bihar. The user shared a November 13, 2025 post, which featured a video shot from a different angle but showed the same location. This video also showed people gathered around the same premises and alleged a truck entering the counting centre. According to the post, the video was from Sasaram in the Rohtas district of Bihar, where a truck allegedly loaded with EVMs was driven into the counting centre.
We also noticed Sasaram written on the entrance gate of the alleged counting centre in the viral video.
We then ran a keyword search and found video reports from the same location published by The Indian Express, ABP Bihar and News 18 on November 13, 2025. According to these news outlets, before the counting of votes, the Rashtriya Janata Dal had accused the district administration in Sasaram of bringing a truck allegedly loaded with EVMs to the counting centre without prior notice.
According to the Hindustan Times and The Times of India reports from the same date, a truck entered the counting centre at Bazar Samiti, Takia, in Sasaram before vote counting, leading the RJD to allege that it carried EVMs. The allegation was denied by the official, stating the vehicle contained only empty boxes, which were checked in front of the candidates.
The video was also shared on RJD on November 13, 2025. The Rohtas district administration responded to the post and clarified that after they received information about the truck entering the counting centre in Takiya Bazar Samiti, Sasaram, they inspected it in front of the candidates, and the whole process was videotaped. The truck was carrying the empty steel trunks, and no EVMs were found.
Thus, we concluded that the video does not show the BJP taking control over the Election Commission’s office in Kolkata.
– Ends
