06-08-2025
Fact Check: No Panchayat Polls in J&K yet, FAKE notification goes viral
A notification announcing the schedule for Panchayat Polls in Jammu and Kashmir has gone viral on social media. The document, allegedly from the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, claims that elections will be held after November shared the photo of the document on social media, claiming that the local body polls were going to be held in the Valley after almost eight
India Today Fact Check found that this notification is fake. To date, no such announcement has been made by the Chief Electoral Office of Jammu and ProbeLooking closely at the viral notification, we noticed that the word 'facilitate' was incorrectly written as 'pacilitate' in the third point, which is highly unlikely in any government notification. A keyword search to confirm whether any schedule of the Panchayat Polls for Jammu and Kashmir had been announced also yielded no the viral image using Google Lens led us to a post, dated August 5, from the official account of the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, which debunked this notification with the caption: "Fake news alert."India Today Fact Check also reached out to a senior official in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department of Jammu and Kashmir, who confirmed that the State Election Commission is the only competent authority to notify a schedule for Panchayat elections. He added that no such timeline had been officially announced yet. He also said, "The public is advised not to fall prey to such misinformation. Circulating fake government orders is a punishable offence under the Information Technology Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code."It is worth noting that in July 2023, the State Election Commission of Jammu and Kashmir hinted that the Panchayat polls could be held in October that year. Later, however, it was postponed, and in October 2024, the Jammu and Kashmir government extended the mandate of the Local Bodies, hinting that the Panchayat and urban local body elections would be also found the official notification of the announcement of the 2018 Panchayat Elections in Jammu and Kashmir on the official website of the Chief Electoral Officer. A comparison of both notifications is it is clear that the viral notification is fake.- EndsTune InMust Watch
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