Satire article on ‘fine for not voting’ resurfaces during India’s 2024 elections

India’s six-week parliamentary elections that began on April 19 – the world’s biggest democratic exercise – have sparked a wave of false and misleading posts online. unmasked by AFP.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to win with a political opposition weakened and sidelined.

Similar Posts were also shared on Facebook here It is here and so on social media platform.

User comments indicated that some believed the claim.

“Is it possible for someone who is seriously ill to vote?” one wrote.

“This is just a trick to increase the vote percentage,” said another.

Satire article

The Election Commission of India termed the claim as “false” in a declaration published on his official X account on April 2, 2024 (archived link).

The statement included the screenshot shared in the fake posts, labeled as “fake news.”

Keyword searches of the commission’s website found no trace of any such policy that would fine non-voters.

A reverse image search on Google found a previous image declaration published by Indian newspaper Navbharat Times on March 23, 2019, which claimed to have published the article as satire (archived link).

“No money will be deducted from anyone’s account if they do not vote for any reason,” the newspaper wrote in Hindi.

“Navbharat Times expresses its regret whether the humorous article caused confusion among readers.”

The article was originally published on March 21, 2019, before India held its general elections that year.

An archived version of the entire page where the article appeared can be viewed here.

A note at the end of the article said, “Don’t worry, it’s Holi”, referring to the Indian people festival which marks the beginning of spring.

Indian newspapers frequently publish satirical articles to mark the season.

At the bottom of the page, another note also said: “All news on this page is fictitious.”

At the time, the electoral commission also clarified that the statement was originally intended as a joke.

On a post on X On March 23, 2019, the commission shared newspaper clippings from Navbharat Times showing the article (archived link).

“Clarification published by Navbharat Times regarding the misleading item published by them as a Holi prank,” the commission’s post read.