No, TIB Did Not Claim 21.4% Fake Votes in 13th Parliamentary Election
The 13th National Parliamentary Election was held on February 12. Information has been circulated in local media quoting Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) claiming that 21.4 percent fake votes were cast in the said election.
See such news broadcast in the media Nagorik TV, Somoyer Alo, Bdnews24, and Dhaka Today.
See the post circulated on the media’s Facebook page here.
Additionally, multiple media outlets subsequently removed the discussed claim after circulating it. Among the media outlets are; Ittefaq, Mohona TV.
Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy also made a post on his Facebook account with the discussed claim. See his post here.
Former State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat shared Sajeeb Wazed Joy’s post on his Facebook account. See his shared post here.
See the post circulated with the same claim on the Facebook page of Bangladesh Awami Jubo League here.
See the post with the same claim circulated on the Facebook page of Bangladesh Chhatra League here.
See other posts circulated on Facebook here, here.
Fact Check
The Rumor Scanner team’s investigation reveals that TIB’s research on the 13th National Parliamentary Election did not state that 21.4 percent fake votes were cast. In reality, TIB’s research titled ‘Tracking the 13th National Parliamentary Election Process and Affidavits’ revealed that allegations of fake voting were found in 21.4 percent of the 70 representative sample constituencies selected from 300 constituencies.
Investigating the discussed claim, Rumor Scanner collected and reviewed the presentation slide presented at today’s press conference organized by TIB.
In the review, it is seen that in the research conducted by TIB, 70 constituencies were selected as samples on a random basis using a representative sampling method from a total of 300 electoral constituencies. Their research revealed that various incidents of irregularities occurred in 40 percent of the said constituencies. Among them, it has been claimed that incidents of fake voting occurred in 21.4 percent of the constituencies.
When confusion spread in the media and social media regarding this incident, a press release was issued on behalf of TIB. The press release stated, “Information of one or more incidents of fake voting was found in 21.4 percent of the 70 randomly selected sample constituencies for TIB’s field-level research. Interpreting this information to mean that 21.4 percent fake votes were cast in the entire election is completely wrong, baseless, and unfounded.”
Additionally, a post regarding this is also found on TIB’s Facebook page.
That is, it has been claimed that one or more incidents of fake voting occurred in 21.4 percent of the 70 sample constituencies included in TIB’s research.
Therefore, the news circulated quoting TIB claiming that 21.4 percent fake votes were cast in the 13th National Parliamentary Election is false.
Sources
- Transparency International Bangladesh Research Slide
- Transparency International Bangladesh Press Release
- Transparency International Bangladesh Facebook Post
- Rumor Scanner’s Analysis