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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.

5,415 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYElections & voting

భీమవరం లో పోలైన ఓట్లు 168005 అయితే, కౌంటింగ్ లో అందరి అభ్యర్థులకు కలిపి 190565 ఓట్లు వచ్చాయి. నర్సాపురం లో పోలైన ఓట్లు 120090 అయితే, కౌంటింగ్ లో అందరి అభ్యర్థులకు కలిపి 134444 ఓట్లు వచ్చాయి

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLYElections & voting

6 lakh of votes polled for Rahul Gandhi were deleted.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a viral claim that six lakh votes polled for Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad were deleted after the Election Commission of India (ECI) website showed a much higher figure during counting and later changed it. The review reports that the site at one point displayed 13,37,438 votes for Gandhi, then showed 7,05,034 by the end of counting. It says the discrepancy prompted speculation that votes had been removed and that the BJP IT cell had accessed the ECI’s database. The review checked the scale of the alleged earlier total against constituency-wide turnout. It says it used the ECI’s Voter Turnout Android app, filtered for Wayanad in the third phase of the 2019 general election, and found 10,90,072 votes polled across the constituency. That total is lower than the website’s temporary figure for Gandhi alone, so the two figures cannot both represent valid counts. The review also cites a January 2019 document from the Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, which put Wayanad’s registered electorate at 13.25 lakh. On that evidence, FACTLY concluded the 13,37,438 figure was a mistaken ECI display, not a genuine tally of Gandhi’s votes later deleted. The article says the ECI subsequently updated the figure to 7,05,034 and describes the initial display as a possible technical error. Its conclusion addresses the specific claim of six lakh deleted votes; the excerpt does not present evidence that establishes who caused the erroneous display.

Sonal GuptaElections & voting

An Indian millionaire is throwing $100000 on the streets of Manhattan to celebrate Modi's victory in the Lok Sabha elections.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a viral video showing a man throwing money onto a Manhattan street. The accompanying message said an “Indian millionaire” had given away $100,000 in New York in celebration of Modi’s election victory. The investigation distinguishes the video’s authenticity from the identity and motive asserted in that message: it says the footage was genuine, but the man was not an Indian millionaire.

FACTLYElections & voting

భీమవరం లో పోలైన ఓట్లు 168005 అయితే, కౌంటింగ్ లో అందరి అభ్యర్థులకు కలిపి 190565 ఓట్లు వచ్చాయి. నర్సాపురం లో పోలైన ఓట్లు 120090 అయితే, కౌంటింగ్ లో అందరి అభ్యర్థులకు కలిపి 134444 ఓట్లు వచ్చాయి.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Fact CrescendoElections & voting

Claim: Ajay Agarwal challenged Modi for a fair Election

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

The review examined a report saying that Ajay Agarwal challenged Narendra Modi over the fairness of the 2019 election. It identifies Agarwal as a BJP leader and Supreme Court lawyer, and says the report drew on a letter he wrote to Modi. The central statement attributed to that letter was that, if the election were conducted fairly, the BJP would not win even 40 seats. The review therefore treats the claim as a reported criticism in a letter, not as a record of Agarwal confronting Modi in person.

The QuintElections & voting

Did a billboard congratulate Akhilesh Yadav on the possibility of becoming the prime minister

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a viral image of a billboard that appeared to congratulate former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on the possibility of becoming prime minister. The Quint’s review says it compared the viral image with earlier posts of the same billboard and found that the billboard’s other elements matched, but its wording did not: the original read “नव वर्ष की हार्दिक” (“heartfelt New Year wishes”), while the viral version had been changed to “प्रधान मंत्री बनने की हार्दिक” (“heartfelt [wishes for the] possibility of becoming Prime Minister”). The review describes a search for the image on Facebook using the Hindi terms for Akhilesh Yadav and “possibility.” That search led to posts from December 2018 and January 2019. The comparison of those earlier images with the viral version is the central evidence that the political message was edited into an existing billboard, rather than appearing in its original text. The review also points to a wording error in the viral version: the billboard used “सम्भावना” (“expectation”) where the review says “शुभकामनाएं” (“best wishes”) should have appeared. It identifies Samajwadi Party MLC Sunil Singh ‘Sajan’ on the billboard’s lower green band and reports that he denied the viral claim, saying his old hoarding had been tampered with. The evidence presented supports the review’s conclusion that the image was altered.