Fact Check: 20 lakh Bangladeshis in Kerala voters’ list? Viral claim is misleading

A viral post on social media claims Kerala has 20 lakh illegal Bangladeshi voters. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found no substantial proof in support of the claim.

On Thursday, just days before elections in Kerala on April 6, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala released a list of over 4 lakh ‘bogus’ voters, alleging massive discrepancies in the voters’ list. The Election Commission told the high court that it identified only a little over 38,000 such voters. Amid this, a viral post on social media claims Kerala has 20 lakh illegal Bangladeshi voters. The claim has been shared with an article titled, “Massive electoral fraud detected in Kerala : 20 lakh Bangladeshi immigrants are voters”. The article has been published by a website named “Social Observer”. The verified Twitter handle of social activist Madhu Purnima Kishwar also shared the claim.