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Chlorine is an electron withdrawing group but it is ortho, para directing in electrophilic aromatic substitution.
Reason: Inductive effect of chlorine destabilises the intermediate carbocation formed during the electrophilic substitution, however due to the more pronounced resonance effect, the halogen stabilises the carbocation at ortho and para positions.
Detailed Solution
Halogens are electron withdrawing due to high electronegativity (strong -I effect), which deactivates the benzene ring. They also show an electron donating resonance effect, which directs the incoming electrophile to ortho and para positions. The source key treats the assertion as correct and the reason as false.