Bengal Election: Jhalmuri, SPG et al

April 25, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

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Hello,

If you’ve been on WhatsApp or X lately, you know that the rumour mill is a strong force in the West Bengal elections. Videos are being recycled and photos are being shared out of context to sway the public opinion.

So, as usual, it’s a busy season for fact-checkers like us.   

To help you cut through the noise, I’ve rounded up four of the most viral misinformation making the rounds this week, plus a major policy update by the Election Commission that left thousands of gig workers confused. Let's dive in.

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1. The ‘Secret Agent’ Jhalmuri Vendor

Remember that photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi grabbing a bag of jhalmuri in Jhargram? Well, a narrative went viral claiming the vendor was actually a jawan and employed as the prime minister's security personnel under the special protection group (SPG).

Even CM Mamata Banerjee took a dig, suggesting the whole thing was a staged production.

The Reality: Meet Vikram Shaw who’s been selling snacks at College More for years. BOOM’s Sista Mukherjee visited the shop in Jhargram. The vendor confirmed that he has no connection with the SPG. “These claims are false,” Shaw told her. BOOM's reporter, a local from Jhargram, has also been a regular customer at Shaw's shop, located at College More in Jhargram, and she corroborated the same.

2. Deja Vu? Not Quite

A video has been circulated showing a police officer slapping and lathi-charging two men seated on the side of the road beside a Trinamool Congress (TMC) banner, with captions claiming it shows police action against TMC workers campaigning on polling day in West Bengal. 

The Reality: If it looks familiar, that’s because it’s from July 2023. This footage was filmed during the Panchayat elections in Basanti, South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal. Social media users are basically digging up old clips to make it look like the current phase is more ‘explosive’ than it actually is.

3. A History Lesson Mix-Up

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath landed in a controversy after a clip showed him attributing Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s iconic "Give me blood, and I will give you freedom" slogan to Swami Vivekananda. Shortly after, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari shared an edited video of UP CM to claim that he never said it.

The Reality: It was a classic slip of the tongue. In the original livestream, he did accidentally credit Vivekananda first, then corrected himself to Netaji.

4. Wrong Country, Wrong Election

Perhaps the most dramatic claim: a video showing Indian Army personnel thrashing TMC-affiliated goons who were trying to capture booths in Phase 1 of West Bengal elections.

The Reality: This one didn't even happen in India. This is actually footage of a mock drill conducted by the Bangladesh Army back in February to prepare for their own elections. If you look closely at the banners in the back, they literally say ‘13th National Parliamentary Election - 2026’, ‘Rashik Nagar Government Primary School’, and ‘Election Exercise’. Based on these cues, we conducted a keyword search on Facebook and found a local news report dated February 9, 2026, carrying the same video from Bangladesh.

The Bottom Line: Election season is a marathon, and the misinformation is the hurdle. If a video looks a little too perfect or a story feels too scandalous, pause and verify before you forward it to the family group chat. Stay sharp and savvy!

DECODE

Ban Or No Ban? EC’s Circulars On Bike Restrictions In Bengal Leave Gig Workers Confused

Away from the viral videos, there was a lot of stress for Bengal’s gig workers this week. The Election Commission (EC) initially dropped a circular that seemed to slap a blanket ban on bikes and pillion riders around poll days, leaving Zomato, Swiggy, and Rapido riders panicking about their livelihood. However, the EC later clarified that the ban only applies to "bike rallies" and not delivery partners. For the gig workers caught in the middle of the flip-flop, the clarifications have come — but the income lost in the confusion has not. Swasti Chatterjee reports.

🅱️ RECOMMENDS

This week's recommendation is: Context-switching in short-form videos: What is the impact on prospective memory?

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Verified By Boom is written by Divya Chandra, edited by Adrija Bose and designed by H Shiva Roy Chowdhury.

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