Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
BJP got only 201 votes in the Lakshadweep Lok Sabha seat despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to woo the Muslim vote banks when he had visited the island and highlighted its tourism potential.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Lakshadweep 201 votes BJP”, which led us to multiple news reports on the election held on April 19, the first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“INC candidate Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed won the Lakshadweep Lok Sabha elections. The incumbent MP Mohammed Faizal Padippura of Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar [NCP(SP)] lost to him by a margin of 2,647 votes…The Union Territory has only one Lok Sabha constituency and the voter turnout was 84.16%. It has a total of 57,594 voters,” read the Hindu report, dated June 4, 2024, stating that the BJP-led NDA fielded TP Yousuf of NCP (Ajit Pawar), which contradicts the viral claim. We learnt that TP came third bagging 201 votes.
“After the split in NCP and the NCP(AP) faction joining the NDA, the Lakshadweep seat was given to the NCP(AP) faction. The party even fielded a Muslim scholar, Yousuf TP, as candidate. But all these efforts did not help the NDA woo voters of the Muslim dominated region,” read the Deccan Herald report, dated June 6, 2024.
We went to the Election Commission of India website, where we confirmed that NCP’s Yousuf TP won only 201 votes.
Also Read: False Claim Of 110 Muslim MPs Elected To Lok Sabha Goes Viral
Result: Missing Context
Source
Deccan Herald report, June 6, 2024
ECI website
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
