BSP’s press release asking voters to vote for another party is fake

In the light of the ongoing assembly elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh, a social media post that shares a purported press release of the Bahujan Samaj Party’s central camp office is being widely circulated. The press release states that the winning prospects of the BSP candidate of Pratappur constituency in the fifth phase of the election which are to be held on 27 January 2022 are found not satisfactory and asks the voters of the constituency to vote for any strong opponent of Samajwadi Party in order to defeat them. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.

Claim: Press release of the Bahujan Samaj Party asking the voters of Pratappur to vote for any strong opponent of Samajwadi Party other than their own candidate.
Fact: This is a dubious press release circulating in the name of BSP. It is a very unlikely that a national party releases such a press note asking voters to vote for another party despite fielding their own candidate. Further, the viral letter wrongly mentions the date of 5^th phase election, which is again highly unlikely from a national party. Further, the BSP issued a press note clarifying that the viral letter is fake. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.

This is a dubious press release being circulated in the name of the Bahujan Samaj Party. A national party releasing a press note asking voters to vote for another party despite fielding its own candidate is very unlikely.

Moreover, the press release dated 26 February 2022, mentions that the date of the fifth phase of elections as 27 January 2022, whereas the actual polling day was on 27 February 2022. Again, a national party wrongly mentioning the date of the election is also unlikely.

Further search yielded a news report wherein Pratappur BSP’s candidate Ghanshyam Pandey called the viral letter fake.

The Bahujan Samaj Party released a press note terming the viral letter as fake and further asks the voters to be aware of such fake letters in view of the 6^th and 7^th phases of polling. BSP’s national spokesperson Faizan iterated the same with Vishwas News in their correspondence.