Election drill videos misrepresented as polls violence, ballot snatching

Several videos circulated on social media during Bangladesh’s 13th national election, falsely claiming to show ballot box snatching, polling center occupations, and election violence. Dismislab’s fact-check confirmed that these claims used old videos of training drills by law enforcement.

Claim 1

A video shared from the page ‘Barrister Sayedul Haque Suman’ falsely claims that ballot boxes were looted from a polling center in Rajshahi. The 17-second clip shows army soldiers detaining a man attempting to run away with a ballot box. In the comments section, the page wrote, “BNP has occupied a polling station in Rajshahi, overcoming the administration’s resistance, and snatched ballot papers. Do not go to the polling station—stay home, and stay safe. Boycott the farcical election.” The video was viewed at least 170,000 times and shared 1,100 times so far. 

A reverse image search led to the original video, shot during a law enforcement exercise in Brahmanbaria district ahead of the February 12, 2026, election.

Brahmanbaria-based media outlet BBNews livestreamed the drill held at Nabinagar Government College grounds on February 8, four days before the election. The video shared by the ‘Barrister Sayedul Haque Suman’ page matches the livestreamed video.

Claim 2

Another video shared on Facebook claimed that polling stations were captured during the election. The video, captioned “An example of illegal election under the illegal government,” has been shared more than 480 times.

Another person posted the same video, claiming that ballot boxes were being snatched from polling stations as the presiding officer pleaded for the army’s assistance. The video shows commotion at the polling station, with law enforcement intervening. This post was shared more than 300 times.

Dismislab fact-checked the video and found it actually shows an army exercise in Khagrachhari’s Dighinala before the election. Two seconds in, a banner clearly reads ‘security drill.’ Despite this, the video was misrepresented as ballot box snatching.

Claim 3

Another video posted on the Facebook page ‘Trinamool Awami League’ falsely claimed to show an attempt to capture a polling station in Noakhali’s Begumganj two days before the election. The 55-second video, shared over 400 times, was captioned, “The current state of the best election in history! An attempt to seize a polling station in Noakhali’s Begumganj two days ago.” The video was posted with a similar claim from the ‘Joy Bangla 1971’ page with the caption: “Capturing Noakhali polling station.”

Keyword searches revealed videos from the joint forces’ election exercise in Noakhali posted on the YouTube channels of Desh Television,Ekattor Television, and Jago News. The attire and appearance of the personnel in the video match those seen in these media reports. The joint forces’ drill has been falsely represented as an attempt to capture a polling station in Begumganj.Previously, joint forces’ election drills were misrepresented as clashes between the BNP and the army in Debidwar, Cumilla, and as anti-election protests in Chapainawabganj.

Disclaimer: The original version of this fact-check report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on February 13th, 2026. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.