Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
The first phase of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh is due this week. The Akhilesh Yadav-led SP is being projected as the biggest challenge to incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath’s return to power. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is also contesting all 403 seats. In this backdrop, a graphic claiming to show ‘Opinion Poll In UP’ by ‘News 7’ is going viral on social media platforms. The viral graphic predicts that the SP will lead with 188-196 seats in Uttar Pradesh, followed by the BJP with 144-152 seats. However, Newschecker has found out that the viral graphic has been morphed.
The graphic of the opinion poll predicts that the AAP will secure 20-25 seats in the elections, while Congress will win 14-22 seats and the BSP 07-15 seats.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Nitin Tyagi was amongst several social media users who shared the graphic claiming that AAP will secure 20-25 seats in the upcoming assembly elections in UP, believing it to be true.
Ahead of the assembly elections, several media organisations released their opinion polls. According to the ABP News-CVoter Opinion Poll, the BJP+ is likely to win 225- 237 seats, the SP+ 139-151 seats. The BSP will secure 13-21 seats while Congress is likely to win 04-08 seats in the UP assembly elections. According to the Times Now-Veto Opinion Poll, BJP and its alliance are expected to win around 212-231 seats, the SP to win in 147-158 constituencies, BSP may manage 10-16, Congress 9-15 and others 2-5 seats.
The 2022 Uttar Pradesh election for 403 assembly seats will be held in seven phases starting from February 10. The second phase of UP elections will be on February 14th, third phase on February 20th, fourth phase on February 23, 5th phase on February 27, 6th phase on March 3 and the last phase will be conducted on March 7. The results will be out on March 10.
Fact Check/Verification
Newschecker conducted a Google reverse image search on the viral graphic to ascertain its authenticity and found a video report uploaded by news channel ‘News24’ on its official YouTube channel on January 22, 2022. The video showed the results of the opinion poll surveys undertaken by different organisations in Uttar Pradesh.
At 2:50 minutes, a survey by DB Live was seen in the video. On analysing the video, we found several similarities between the survey by DB Live and the viral graphic. They both have a red backdrop, ‘UP Ka Mahapoll’ is written at the top and predict victory on 144-152 seats for the BJP and its alliance.
However, the predictions for other political parties were different. Notably, the DB Live opinion poll did not carry predictions for AAP.
To further investigate the matter, we scanned the YouTube channel of Tamil News Channel News7- its logo is visible at the top-right in the viral graphic- for opinion polls related to UP elections. However, we didn’t come across any such video.
Newschecker then conducted a Google reverse search for the image of female anchor in the viral graphic and found a video uploaded by Manorama News on its official YouTube channel on November 13, 2016 which showed the woman featured in the viral graphic. The woman was identified as news anchor Anila Mangalassery.
Conclusion
The viral graphic claiming to show an opinion poll by News7 projecting massive edge to the SP in upcoming UP polls has been morphed. The viral graphic has been manipulated and made by combining elements of three different news channels.
Also Read: Did Akhilesh Yadav Promise To Build 2,000 New Mosques In UP If SP Wins? No, Viral Claim Is Fake
Result: Manipulated Media
Sources
Self Analysis
(This article was originally published in Newschecker Hindi)
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
