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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

Fact CrescendoElections & voting

ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋភាគច្រើន ដូចជាលែងចាប់អារម្មណ៍ពីការបោះឆ្នោត ក៍ដូចជាមិនសូវទៅចុះឈ្មោះបោះឆ្នោត ឬទៅមើលបញ្ជីបោះឆ្នោតឡើយ ព្រោះ មិនដឹងជាបោះឆ្នោតបានប្រយោជន៍អីទៀត? កាន់តែបោះ ខ្មែរកាន់តែស្លាប់ កាន់តែជាប់គុក កាន់តែបែកបាក់គ្នា ប្រទេសជាតិទឹកដីកាន់តែរលាយហិនហោច ហើយខ្មែរកាន់តែរើងអើងគ្នា

Publisher’s rating: Altered

The claim paired criticism of voting in Cambodia with an image said to show Prime Minister Hun Sen licking a ballot box. Fact Crescendo’s investigation addressed the image, rather than testing the political opinions or predictions expressed in the accompanying text. It reports that the Facebook post appeared on January 20, 2022, and that the image had been edited before being shared. To check the image, the publisher says it ran a Google reverse image search. That search led to an exact image match on Getty Images and to a photograph shown in a South China Morning Post report. The descriptions accompanying those images identify Hun Sen looking at a ballot box after voting in local polls in Kandal province on June 4, 2017; the South China Morning Post account also describes him looking at the ballot box, not licking it. The key distinction is between the original scene and the altered version circulating with the claim. Fact Crescendo concluded that the original photograph showed Hun Sen looking at the ballot box and did not show his tongue touching it. The review’s findings therefore address the image’s authenticity, not whether voting has the consequences alleged in the post.

FACTLYElections & voting

Video of an elderly man insulting Akhilesh Yadav by saying – ‘Go and build a mosque, no one from the neighbourhood will vote for you’

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video presented as showing an elderly man insulting Akhilesh Yadav during a door-to-door campaign ahead of Uttar Pradesh’s assembly elections. In the alleged exchange, the man supposedly tells Yadav to build a mosque and says neighbourhood residents will not vote for him. FACTLY’s review says the video was not connected to a recent Akhilesh Yadav campaign and that the man did not make either of those statements. The review describes two checks: searching the internet with relevant keywords, which brought up older versions of the video, and listening to a longer version of the footage. It reports that the video had been shared online since at least November 2019, so it predated the campaign context in which it was being circulated. The longer video, according to the review, is about alleged tampering with electronic voting machines, not a mosque or an exchange with Yadav. In the review’s account, the man says that if the machines are not changed, the party will receive no votes and will not form the government. That content directly contradicts the alleged mosque remark. The review also notes that a YouTube channel, Media Halchal News, reported the video in November 2019. Together, the reported earlier circulation and the longer footage’s different subject matter show why the clip does not substantiate the claim about Yadav’s campaign.

FACTLYElections & voting

News channel opinion poll survey predicting 350-390 seats to the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Elections 2022

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media image presented as a news channel’s poll predicting 350–390 seats for the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. FACTLY reports that the image was edited, not an authentic poll with that projection. It identifies the source image as an India TV opinion poll and says the original predicted 148–150 seats for the Samajwadi Party, while projecting 242–244 seats for the BJP. To check the image, the review describes comparing it with India TV’s poll material. It says a similar poll image appeared on India TV’s official Facebook page, and that India TV also published the same photo on its official Twitter account. The review further reports that India TV published the complete Uttar Pradesh opinion-poll video on YouTube on 31 January 2022; comparing that poll’s template with the circulating image, FACTLY concluded that the latter was an edited version. The review also notes a possible source of confusion: Akhilesh Yadav had asserted at rallies and in media interactions that his party would win more than 350 seats. But the review says no news channel had predicted 350 seats for the Samajwadi Party at that point. That distinction matters: a political leader’s prediction is not evidence that the altered image accurately represents a news-channel poll.

Fact CrescendoElections & voting

Claim: fake news circulating that Annamalai proposed the name for Coimbatore mayoral candidate

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a news card saying Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai had named Karthik, who received one vote in a local election, as the BJP’s candidate for Coimbatore mayor. The review places the card in the context of Karthik’s run for a ward councillor seat in Kurudampalayam village panchayat, Coimbatore district, during the rural local-body election in October 2021. It says he received one vote and that the BJP had said he would be given an opportunity to contest a future election. The card later circulating on social media presented his name as the mayoral choice. [S1: “கடந்த 2021 அக்டோபர் மாதம் நடந்த ஊரக உள்ளாட்சித் தேர்தலின் போது கோவை மாவட்டம் குருடம்பாளையம் ஊராட்சியின் 9வது வார்டு கவுன்சிலர் பதவிக்கு கார்த்திக் என்ற நபர் போட்டியிட்டு ஒரே ஒரு வாக்கு வாங்கியிருந்தார்.”] To check the claim, the review says it examined cards published by the online outlet Kathir on its Facebook page. It found that Kathir had not published the card being shared; instead, the outlet had posted a version stamped “FAKE.” The review concludes that the circulating card falsely attributed the mayoral-candidate announcement to Annamalai. [S1: “நாம் ஆய்வுக்கு எடுத்துக்கொண்ட நியூஸ் கார்டு போலியானது போல் உள்ளது. எனவே, கதிர் என்ற இணைய ஊடகம் வெளியிட்ட நியூஸ் கார்டுகளை அதன் ஃபேஸ்புக் பக்கத்தில் பார்வையிட்டோம். அப்போது, இந்த நியூஸ் கார்டை அந்த ஊடகம் வெளியிடவில்லை என்பது தெரிந்தது.”] [S1: “மேலும், இந்த நியூஸ் கார்டு போலியானது என்று “FAKE” முத்திரை குத்தி கதிர் நியூஸ் பதிவு வெளியிட்டிருந்தது.”] The distinction is between Karthik’s documented one-vote result in a ward-level rural election and the separate, unsupported claim that he had been announced as a mayoral candidate. The review’s stated check of the purported publisher’s Facebook cards supports its conclusion that the shared card was not an authentic Kathir publication. [S1: “இதன் மூலம் ஊரக உள்ளாட்சித் தேர்தலில் ஒரு ஓட்டு வாங்கிய கார்த்திக் என்பவரைக் கோவை மாநகராட்சி மேயர் வேட்பாளராக அண்ணாமலை அறிவித்தார் என்று பகிரப்படும் தகவல் தவறானது என்று உறுதியாகிறது.”]

FACTLYElections & voting

Photo of an opinion poll on ‘News 7’ channel showing that AAP might win more seats than Congress and BSP in UP

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a screenshot presented as a News 7 opinion poll predicting that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would win more seats than Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh. FACTLY reports that the screenshot was assembled from separate items, rather than being an authentic News 7 poll graphic: its template came from News 24, its anchor photo came from Manorama News, and its News 7 Tamil logo had been edited into the image. The review also says that AAP did not appear in the opinion-poll numbers reported by News 24. To investigate the image, FACTLY says it first tried Google Reverse Image Search, which yielded no useful information. It then searched using specific keywords from the image and found a News 24 video in which the same template appeared. Comparing that video with the circulating screenshot, the review found that the logo, anchor and poll figures differed; it reports that the figures and other elements had been edited. In the News 24 video, the channel covered polls by various agencies, but none of the graphics included numbers about AAP. The review traces the other image elements to separate sources: it says the anchor photograph came from a 2016 Manorama News video and that the News 7 Tamil logo was edited and inserted. Taken together, these comparisons support the conclusion that the screenshot combines distinct media elements and does not show the claimed News 7 poll result.

FACTLYElections & voting

Photo of Republic Bharat’s Opinion Poll predicting 252-272 seats to BSP in the upcoming elections in UP

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a photo circulating on social media that appeared to show Republic Bharat’s opinion poll predicting 252–272 seats for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections. FACTLY reports that the image was edited: the seat ranges for the BJP and BSP had been interchanged, making the BJP’s prediction appear to be the BSP’s. To check the image, FACTLY says it used a reverse image search and found a similar image on Republic Bharat’s official Twitter account. The post, dated 17 January 2022, showed a prediction of 8–16 seats for the BSP, not 252–272. Comparing that image with the viral version, FACTLY identified the swapped figures. The poll figures described in the review provide the decisive context: the Republic TV–PMARQ poll projected 252–272 seats for the BJP and its allies, 111–131 for the Samajwadi Party, and 8–16 for the BSP. Thus, the viral image attributed the BJP’s projected range to the BSP.

FACTLYElections & voting

Rajnath Singh requested people not to assault or throw shoes on their leaders campaigning for the upcoming 2022 elections in Uttar Pradesh

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a newspaper clipping presented as evidence that Rajnath Singh made his appeal during campaigning for Uttar Pradesh’s upcoming 2022 elections. FACTLY says the statement instead came from an election rally in Abohar, Punjab, during the 2017 Punjab campaign. It describes the clipping as an old article being recirculated in the context of the upcoming elections: “The news article shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.” The review connects Singh’s remarks to earlier incidents in Punjab: stone-pelting at Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal’s convoy and shoe-throwing at then Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. At the Abohar rally, Singh appealed to people not to vote for Badal if they did not wish to, but asked whether they would “throw shoes on him.” This setting identifies the target of the appeal as Parkash Singh Badal, not leaders campaigning in Uttar Pradesh in 2022. FACTLY says it searched for relevant material and found social-media users’ live visuals of Singh speaking at the Abohar rally. It also points to ANI’s post of the remark, dated 24 January 2017, and says other news websites reported the statement in connection with that rally. Taken together, the place, campaign year, named person addressed and contemporaneous report support the review’s conclusion that the statement was misrepresented as relating to Uttar Pradesh’s 2022 election campaign.

Fact CrescendoElections & voting

Claim: misinformation spreading that uttar Pradesh people chased bjp candidates

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media video presented as showing people chasing a BJP candidate in Uttar Pradesh during the 2022 election period. The review describes footage of a man pursued by a crowd and escorted by police, and says that a caption identified him as a BJP candidate being pursued by voters in Uttar Pradesh. It reports that the video had been shared on Facebook on January 25, 2022, and that a reader asked whether the claim was true. To check the video’s provenance, the review says it converted frames into still images and used reverse-image search. It found earlier posts describing similar footage as an incident in Punjab in 2021. The review then located an ANI post dated July 11, 2021, whose images it says matched the video under investigation. According to the review, ANI identified the incident as an alleged attack by farmers on BJP leader Bhupesh Aggarwal in Rajpura, in Punjab’s Patiala district. The review concludes that the video was recorded in Punjab in July 2021, not in Uttar Pradesh as the caption claimed. Thus, the footage does not establish that Uttar Pradesh residents chased a BJP candidate during the 2022 election period. The review’s conclusion concerns the provenance and misleading attribution of this particular video; it does not establish whether unrelated incidents occurred.

FACTLYElections & voting

Recent video of BJP leaders being thrashed in UP for seeking votes

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned videos circulating ahead of Uttar Pradesh elections that were presented as showing BJP leaders being beaten in Uttar Pradesh while seeking votes. FACTLY examined two videos shared in that election context and concluded that neither showed the claimed event. Its account distinguishes the footage’s actual origins from the way it was being presented online. For the first video, the review says reverse-image searches of screenshots led to a YouTube video with similar visuals. That video, uploaded by NMF News on 6 October 2017, concerned an attack on Dilip Ghosh, then West Bengal BJP president, in Darjeeling. The review reports that Gorkha Janmukti Morcha activists allegedly attacked Ghosh and his supporters in early October 2017. This identifies the footage as older, from West Bengal, and involving a different setting than the claimed recent incident in Uttar Pradesh. The second video was also not evidence of BJP leaders being beaten while canvassing in Uttar Pradesh: FACTLY identifies it as footage of a June 2021 clash between Samajwadi Party and BJP workers during nomination filing for a district panchayat chief post. The review notes that BJP candidates in Uttar Pradesh did face black flags and stones, but says the viral videos were unrelated to leaders being beaten for seeking votes in the upcoming elections. That distinction matters: the review does not deny all election-related confrontations; it finds that the particular videos do not substantiate the claim attached to them.

FACTLYElections & voting

News report showing SP’s better performance in Uttar Pradesh compared to BJP on few indicators

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The review examines social-media posts sharing screenshots and a video clip of an ABP news report comparing Uttar Pradesh under the Samajwadi Party government (2012–17) with the BJP government (2017–2021). The posts highlighted crime, inflation and unemployment, indicators on which the report said the SP government performed better. The review’s central finding is that the posts presented only a selection of the comparison, rather than the full range of indicators covered by the report. According to the review, the complete footage also compared GSDP, electricity production and per-capita electricity availability, ease of doing business, food-grain production, and rural toilet construction. It says the report showed better BJP performance on those indicators. Thus, the excerpts support the narrower point that SP did better on some measures, but not the impression that those selected measures represented the full comparison. The review notes that the figures in its table came from the news story and that it had not independently verified their accuracy.