The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on October 27 that the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls will be held in 12 States and Union Territories.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal is going to be a door-to-door audit of voter rolls, starting in November 2025, aimed at updating and verifying the electoral list for the 2026 Assembly elections.
The exercise revisits the last full revision from 2002, distributing around 7.66 crore forms. It has also become politically charged, with the ruling party opposing it as disenfranchisement and the opposition supporting it as cleansing of the rolls.
In the above context, a video is being widely shared on social media in which a group are seen holding a protest on the street.
The video is shared with a caption suggesting that many illegal Bangladeshi migrants are seen protesting in West Bengal against SIR.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “See how they have come out against SIR (Special Intensive Revision of Voters’ List) in West Bengal. Illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas must be deported. (sic)”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video is from Bangladesh and unrelated to SIR.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by a Facebook user on September 15, with a caption that reads, “Video picture of today’s movement.”
Since the SIR was announced by West Bengal on October 27, we know that the viral video is old.
On the same date, the Facebook user had shared five more videos showing people protesting. In one of the videos, we can see people holding a banner. While the entire banner is not visible, the visible text mentions, ‘Separate Algi and Hamirdi Union.’
We found that another video was also shared on the same day, in which women are seen protesting. The video was shared with a caption that reads, “Today at Mansurabad Stand, video of our Hamirdi residents’ protest.”
Using this information, we searched with relevant keywords and found that the incident was reported by Prothomalo on September 15.
According to the report, residents of Bhanga Upazila in Faridpur, Bangladesh, blocked the Dhaka–Barisal and Dhaka–Khulna highways on September 15, protesting the redrawing of parliamentary boundaries that moved two unions into a different constituency. They demanded reinstatement of the previous demarcation.
