Satire article about 'fine for non-voting' resurfaces during 2024 India election
India's marathon general election sparked a wave of misinformation on social media including posts that falsely claimed the election commission will take away 350 rupees (4 dollars) from the bank accounts of people who do not vote. The commission said the claim was untrue while the posts actually featured a screenshot of a satirical article published by an Indian newspaper in 2019.
"If you don't vote, 350 rupees will be deducted from your bank account," read a Hindi-language post shared on Facebook on March 31, 2024.
The post, which expressed support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, included an image appearing to show a newspaper article.
It said all banks had been instructed by Election Commission of India to take away money from the accounts of non-voters.
The article added the commission obtained court approval for its decision to issue the supposed fine, making it immune to legal challenge.
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 debunked by AFP.
Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to win with a weakened political opposition pushed to the sidelines.
Similar posts were also shared on Facebook here and here and on social media platform X.
Comments from users indicated 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 voting percentage," said another.
Satire article
The Election Commission of India branded the claim as "fake" in a statement published on its official X account on April 2, 2024 (archived link).
The statement included the screenshot shared in the false posts, labelled "fake news".
Keyword searches on the website of the commission found no trace of any such policy fining non-voters.
A Google reverse search of the image found an earlier statement issued by the Indian newspaper Navbharat Times on March 23, 2019 which said it 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 if the humorous article caused confusion among readers."
The article was originally published on March 21, 2019 before India held its general election that year.
An archived version of the entire page where the article appeared could be viewed here.
A note at the end of the article said, "Don't mind, it's Holi," referring to the Indian festival that marks the start of spring.
Indian newspapers often publish satirical articles to mark the season.
At the bottom of the page, another note also said, "All the news on this page is fictional."
At the time, the election commission also clarified the claim was originally intended to be a joke.
In 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 said.
