Ahead of assembly elections in West Bengal, an image of a Hindi news report is being widely shared on social media claiming that BJP leader has stated that 'Election Commission is in the hands of BJP.'

A Facebook user shared the news cutting saying that this guy should be sent to jail for making this statement. 

The image is viral on Facebook with different captions.

The truth behind the claim 

In our investigation, we found this claim to be misleading. The news report which is being widely shared is not a recent one and dates back to 2015 when BJP Jay Banerjee made this statement while addressing a party meet at Mayureswar. 

With the help of relevant keyword search, we found a report published in Business Standard on September 20, 2015, according to which Banerjee alleged that the opposition TMC had defeated them in the last Lok Sabha election by using "unfair means" and that Election Commission of India was under his party's control and the next Assembly election would be conducted under Army surveillance.

The Election Commission also objected to this statement and sought a response from the then BJP President Amit Shah. Later, Joy Banerjee apologized to the West Bengal Election Commission for his statement. A video of Joy Banerjee's statement is also available on the Internet. This cutting of the newspaper was also shared by people in 2015.

In conclusion, a five-year-old statement by BJP leader Jay Banerjee is being falsely shared as a recent one ahead of assembly elections in Bengal.