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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

Fact CrescendoElections & voting

Claim: BSE said dont vote for Modi

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerned a viral image presented as showing the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) asking people not to vote for Prime Minister Modi. Fact Crescendo reports that it investigated the image after a Facebook post made that allegation and shared a photograph as evidence. The review says the image had circulated online and could appear genuine. To check it, the investigators searched Google and used reverse-image search. They report finding the photograph’s genuine source on both BSE’s official website and its Wikipedia profile. Comparing that original with the viral version, the review concluded that the BSE-building image had been altered and misleadingly presented as an anti-Modi message. The review therefore rejects the claim that the image shows BSE making such an appeal. The review also recounts the image’s online history: it says comedian Kunal Kamra had shared the image on Twitter on April 14, 2019, and quotes a BSE post dated April 19 calling it a fake morphed photo using the BSE building. This supports the review’s conclusion that the image was not authentic evidence of a BSE request not to vote for Modi.

NewtralElections & voting

Soy el único candidato que está diciendo claramente cuál es su preferencia de Gobierno

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Newtral’s roundup of its live fact-checking during the Atresmedia debate addresses Albert Rivera’s statement that he was the only candidate clearly stating his preferred government. It labels the statement false and gives a specific reason: Pablo Iglesias was also stating his preference. On the evidence included in this excerpt, the decisive point is that Rivera’s exclusivity claim is contradicted by another candidate doing the same thing. The excerpt does not reproduce Iglesias’s statement or explain what government arrangement he preferred. It directs readers to a separate article for more information, but that linked material is not included here. So the available evidence supports Newtral’s stated basis for rejecting Rivera’s claim, but does not allow a fuller comparison of the candidates’ precise positions.

FACTLYElections & voting

L.K. Advani said For the first time in my 70+ years of voting life, I have voted for the Indian National Congress party.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a post attributing to L.K. Advani a statement that, after voting in the 2019 elections, he had voted for the Indian National Congress for the first time in more than 70 years. FACTLY says Advani did not make that statement after leaving the polling booth. It reports that he said only “Jheet Hamari Hogi” (“victory will be ours”) and left without speaking further to the media. The review describes two checks. It says a search for Advani’s statements found an Indian Express report that he made the brief victory remark but no additional comments. It also says the image in the post was checked with Yandex reverse-image search; that led to a News18 article identifying a similar photograph as showing Advani and his wife voting in 2009 at Shahpur in Ahmedabad’s West Lok Sabha constituency. The photograph’s date is important to the post’s framing: according to FACTLY, it was not an image from the claimed 2019 vote. The review further contrasts the black jacket visible in the post with the red jacket Advani wore when he voted in 2019. Together, the reported absence of the attributed remarks and the earlier provenance of the image contradict the post’s claim.

FACTLYElections & voting

Indira Gandhi invited Kiran Bedi to breakfast for checking her car during an election campaign

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim is that Indira Gandhi invited Kiran Bedi to breakfast to appreciate her for checking Gandhi’s car during an election campaign. FACTLY’s review says Bedi did not issue a challan to Gandhi’s car during any election campaign. It identifies the breakfast photograph as showing a different event: Gandhi’s invitation after Bedi led the 1975 Republic Day Parade. The review describes two checks. It says a reverse-image search traced the photograph to a 2018 tweet by Bedi, and that a search for reports of Bedi issuing a challan to Gandhi’s car during an election campaign found no report of such an incident. The review also distinguishes the car incident that may have contributed to the confusion: Gandhi’s PMO car was towed in 1982 after being parked in a restricted area, when Bedi was Delhi Police’s DCP. According to the review, the photograph was taken in 1975, seven years before the towing incident. It also reports that Bedi clarified the distinction in a tweet on April 22, 2019. The claim therefore attaches the later car-towing episode to the earlier breakfast photograph and gives the invitation a reason the review says is unsupported.