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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Elections & voting fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about elections & voting. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

5,414 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYElections & voting

UP Exit Polls (2022) by international news agencies (like BBC, The New York Times) predicted a majority for the Bahujan Samaj Party

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns alleged 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election exit polls by international agencies, including the BBC and The New York Times, predicting a majority for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). FACTLY’s review says that none of the international agencies listed in the post published an exit poll predicting a BSP majority in that election. It therefore concludes that the claim is false. The review also examined the image used to support the claim. It reports that a reverse-image search found a similar image in an Amar Ujala article, but that the image was different from the one circulating in the post. According to the review, the circulating image was an edited version of Amar Ujala’s template, and none of the agencies listed in Amar Ujala’s article had predicted a BSP majority. As additional context, the review notes that BBC News (Hindi) had published an article based on exit polls by other agencies, including India Today and Times Now. That is distinct from the claim that international agencies such as the BBC or The New York Times themselves published polls predicting a BSP majority. The review’s conclusion rests on its account of the agencies’ published polls and the image comparison, not on treating the BBC’s coverage of other agencies’ polls as such a prediction.

FACTLYElections & voting

Aaj Tak’ UP Exit Poll 2022 predicted 225 seats for the Samajwadi Party

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a social-media screenshot attributed to Aaj Tak that purportedly showed a prediction of 225 seats for the Samajwadi Party in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. FACTLY examined that specific screenshot and reported that it was edited; the figures it attributes to Aaj Tak did not match the claim.

factcrescendo.comElections & voting

പാര്‍ട്ടി പ്രവര്‍ത്തകര്‍ വീട്ടിലെത്തി കൈയ്യില്‍ മഷി പുരട്ടുകയും വോട്ട് രേഖപ്പെടുത്താതെ ഇരിക്കാന്‍ 500 രൂപ നല്‍കുകയും ചെയ്തുവെന്ന് വോട്ടര്‍മാര്‍ ആരോപിക്കുന്നു -സംസ്ഥാനങ്ങളില്‍ നടന്നു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്ന തെരെഞ്ഞെടുപ്പില്‍ നിന്നും

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FACTLYElections & voting

Recent video of Uttar Pradesh voters accusing BJP workers of bribing them and forcefully applying indelible ink on their fingers

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The post presented the video as recent footage of Uttar Pradesh voters accusing BJP workers of bribing them and forcefully marking their fingers with indelible ink. The review’s investigation found that the footage concerned an earlier protest, not the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. It identifies the location as Tara Jivanpur village and the incident as taking place during the 2019 General Elections. To check the video’s provenance, the review says it searched the internet using keywords and found similar visuals in a News 18 article dated 19 May 2019. That report described villagers protesting outside a local police station and alleging BJP workers had given them 500 rupees each to skip voting and had applied ink so they could not vote. The review also says several news websites reported the incident in May 2019. The review further reports that Chandauli police clarified in a tweet that the video was old and related to the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Taken together, the identified 2019 reporting and police clarification support the review’s finding that the video was recirculated with a false impression of recency; the underlying allegations were reported as claims made by villagers, not established as proven facts.

FACTLYElections & voting

Visuals of a polling agent manipulating women voters in the 2022 UP Elections

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video presented as recent footage of a polling agent manipulating women voters inside a polling booth in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, during the 2022 Assembly elections. The review identifies the video instead as footage of a 2019 incident in Asawati village, in the Prithala constituency of Faridabad, Haryana. It reports that the incident occurred during the 2019 General Elections and involved a polling agent influencing women voters and the voting process inside a booth. To check the video’s origin, the review says it used reverse image searches of screenshots and searches for relevant keywords. It found similar visuals posted on social media at least as early as May 2019, attributed to a polling booth in Asawati. It also found a Times of India video published on 13 May 2019, which the review describes as showing a polling agent manipulating women voters and the voting process in Faridabad. The review further reports that the Faridabad District Election Officer said on 12 May 2019 that an FIR had been filed and the polling agent arrested. The officer’s statement located the booth at Asawati in the Prithala constituency and said the observer was satisfied that voting had not been vitiated. Taken together, the reported earlier circulation, matching location and contemporaneous account connect the video to Haryana in 2019, not the claimed Uttar Pradesh election setting.