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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

THE QUINTElections & voting

The message claims that a person can vote even if their name does not appear on the list voter list.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media message circulated during India’s 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It said people whose names were missing from the voter list could bring two photos and photo ID, fill out Form 7 at the polling booth, and then vote. The Quint says it received a WhatsApp forward making this claim and describes it as circulating on Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. To check the claim, The Quint says it contacted the Election Commission of India. Padma Angmo, identified as an ECI director, told the outlet that a person cannot vote if their name is not on the voter list, and that Form 7 has nothing to do with voting in this situation. The review’s conclusion is therefore directly contrary to the message’s central instruction: carrying identification and filling out the named form would not make a person eligible to cast a vote when their name is absent from the list. The review adds an important qualification: having a voter ID card alone does not guarantee that someone can vote. It says a person’s name must appear in the electoral roll for their constituency. The message’s claim that photo ID or Form 7 could substitute for that requirement is thus misleading. The same review also distinguishes a separate, similarly worded claim about casting a “challenge vote,” which it likewise says was false because the voter’s name still had to be on the list.

Fact CrescendoElections & voting

Claim: MK Stalin on Hindu votes

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerned a News7-branded breaking-news card saying that Stalin had declared the DMK did not need Hindu votes. The review says the viral post gave no details of where or when he supposedly made the remarks, and that the card was shared as genuine because it carried News7’s logo. The investigation compared the card with News7 material from the date and time shown on it, then searched for reporting that Stalin had made the alleged statement. The review reports finding a News7 card from February 15 at 2 p.m. about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s announcement of compensation for the families of two soldiers from Tamil Nadu killed in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Comparing that card with the viral image, the reviewers identified differences in the fonts, an erased label referring to Palaniswami, and a stray blue design element near the News7 logo. They concluded the viral image had been altered from the genuine card. The review also says its searches found no report of Stalin making the quoted statement on that date. It notes that the viral post was part of a broader pattern of claims portraying the DMK as hostile to Hindus, and cites other statements by Stalin rejecting that characterization. Its conclusion is that the card was misrepresented and that the alleged remarks were not supported by evidence in the investigation.