Edited photos shared as Opinion Polls predicting majority seats to BSP in the upcoming UP elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 1, 2022
A photo through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that an Opinion Poll by Republic Bharat suggests, Bahujan Samaj Party could secure 252-272 seats in the upcoming UP elections. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Republic Bharat’s Opinion Poll predicting 252-272 seats to BSP in the upcoming elections in UP.
Fact: The photo had been edited to make it look like BSP is going to bag 252-272 seats in the upcoming elections in UP. The numbers for BJP and BSP have been interchanged. The Republic TV-PMARQ Opinion Poll 2022 had predicted a BJP win in Uttar Pradesh. According to the poll, the BJP and its allies are going to retain power with 252-272 expected seats out of 403 seats in the state assembly. Samajwadi Party is expected to get 111-131 seats, with BSP expected to get 8-16 seats. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the photo, a similar photo is found on the official Twitter handle of Republic Bharat. The photo attached to the tweet posted on 17 January 2022 predicts only 8-16 seats for the Bahujan Samaj Party. According to the PMARQ opinion poll, presented by Republic Bharat, it is the BJP that is expected to get 252-272 seats in the upcoming UP elections, not the BSP.
#RepublicOpinionPoll | PMARQ के  ओपिनियन पोल के मुताबित उत्तर प्रदेश में बीजेपी को 252 से 272 सीटें मिलने का अनुमान
देखिए 5 राज्यों का सबसे बड़ा ओपिनियन पोल #LIVE – https://t.co/ilGNRanrxL pic.twitter.com/gpAaHQB5WI
When the viral photo is compared with the photo posted by Republic Bharat, it can be seen that the numbers given to BJP and BSP were interchanged. Clearly, the original photo had been edited to make it look like BSP is expected to get 252-272 seats in UP.
The Republic TV-PMARQ Opinion Poll 2022 had predicted a BJP win in Uttar Pradesh. According to the poll, the BJP and its allies are going to retain power with 252-272 expected seats out of 403 seats in the state assembly. Samajwadi Party is expected to get 111-131 seats, with BSP expected to get 8-16 seats.
Updated (09 March 2022) :
Similarly, another screenshot predicting 203-211 seats for BSP is also doing rounds on social media platforms. The screenshot carries the logo of News 24 and the prediction is attributed to DB Live.
However, as per the original News 24 report footage, published on 22 January 2022, DB Live predicted 12-20 seats for BSP and not 211 seats as claimed in the viral post. Upon juxtaposing the viral screenshot with that of the original News 24 screenshot, it is clearly evident that News 24 screenshot is digitally edited to show that DB Live predicted 203-211 seats for BSP, which is not the case in reality.
To sum it up, an edited photo is shared as Republic Bharat’s Opinion Poll indicating 252-272 seats to BSP in the upcoming UP elections.