India’s six-week parliamentary polls which started April 19 — the largest democratic exercise in the world — sparked a wave of false and misleading posts online\u00a0debunked<\/a> by AFP.<\/p>\n Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to win with a weakened political opposition pushed to the sidelines.<\/p>\n Similar posts<\/span> were also shared on Facebook here<\/a> and here<\/a> <\/span>and on\u00a0social media platform X<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Comments from users indicated some believed the claim.<\/p>\n “Is it possible for someone who is seriously ill to vote?” one wrote.<\/p>\n “This is just a trick to increase the voting percentage,” said another.<\/p>\n The Election Commission of India branded the claim as “fake” in a\u00a0statement<\/a> published on its official X account on April 2, 2024 (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The statement included the screenshot shared in the false posts, labelled “fake news”.<\/p>\n Keyword searches on the website of the commission found no trace of any such policy fining non-voters.<\/p>\n A Google reverse search of the image found an earlier statement<\/a> issued by the Indian newspaper Navbharat Times\u00a0on March 23, 2019 which said it published the article as satire (archived link<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n “No money will be deducted from anyone’s account if they do not vote for any reason,” the newspaper wrote in Hindi.<\/p>\n “Navbharat Times expresses its regret <\/span>if the humorous article caused confusion among readers.”<\/span><\/p>\n The article was originally published on March 21, 2019 before India held its general election that year.<\/p>\n An archived version of the entire page where the article appeared could be viewed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n A note at the end of the article said, “Don’t mind, it’s Holi,” referring to the Indian festival<\/a> that marks the start of spring.<\/p>\n Indian newspapers often publish satirical articles to mark the season.<\/p>\n At the bottom of the page, another note also said,\u00a0“All the news on this page is fictional.”<\/p>\n At the time, the election commission also clarified the claim was originally intended to be a joke.<\/p>\n In a\u00a0post on X<\/a> on March 23, 2019, the commission shared newspaper clippings<\/span> from Navbharat Times showing the article\u00a0(archived link<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n “Clarification published by Navbharat Times regarding the misleading item published by them as a Holi prank,” the commission’s post said.<\/p>\nSatire article<\/h3>\n