Election results from 2017 & 2018 falsely shared as recent ones

Update (28 November 2022):

Another video is being shared on social media claiming it as a recent ‘ABP News’ clip reporting the Congress party’s victory in the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan Assembly Elections. This ‘ABP News’ video clip reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tweeted congratulations to the Congress Party for the victory in these elections. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.

However, when we searched for this video clip using relevant keywords on the internet, a video clip showing similar visuals was found published by the ‘ABP News’ YouTube channel on 11 December 2018. ‘ABP News’ in the video reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tweeted congratulations to the Congress Party for the victory in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan Assembly Elections. On 11 December 2018, PM Modi published a tweet congratulating the Congress party for its victory in the elections. A few visuals from the ‘ABP News’ live broadcast on the day of the election counting on 11 December 2018 can be seen here and here. Following the 22 Congress MLA’s resignation in March 2020, the 15-month-old Congress government fell in Madhya Pradesh and the BJP formed the government in the state. The next Assembly Elections in these states will take place in 2023. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is old and does not show any recent election results.

Published (21 November 2022):

Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections were held on 12 November 2022 and the Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to be held on 01 and 05 December 2022. Vote counting and result declaration for these two elections is scheduled for 08 December 2022. In this context, several posts are being shared on social media showing the results of these two elections. Let’s fact-check the claims made in each case.

Video 1:

News 18 India channel’s video showing the election results of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections is being widely shared as recent election results with congress leading BJP. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.

Claim: Video showing the recent election results of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh 2022.

Fact: Original video was uploaded by ‘News18 India’ on its Official YouTube channel on 18 December 2017. It shows vote counting updates of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections that took place in 2017. This year’s (2022) Gujarat assembly elections are scheduled to be held on 01 and 05 December 2022 and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections were held on 12 November. Counting and results of these two elections is scheduled for 08 December 2022. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING

The original video was uploaded by ‘News18 India’ on its Official YouTube channel on 18 December 2017. The description of the video says, “The vote counting of Gujarat and Himachal has started. So far BJP is leading. Watch the video for the exact numbers so far and what the BJP leaders has to say. Watch Sambit Patra speak on Gujarat election.”

According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Gujarat Assembly election for the year 2017 were held on 09 and 14 December 2017. Results were declared on 18 December 2017. Of the total 182 seats, BJP won 99 seats whereas the Congress secured 77 seats. This year, Gujarat Assembly elections are scheduled to be held on 01 and 05 December 2022 in two phases. Vote counting and result declaration for these two phases is scheduled for 08 December 2022. Moreover, the results of the Himachal Assembly election, which were held on 12 November 2022, will also be declared on 08 December.

To sum it up, video showing 2017 Assembly election results of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh is falsely shared as that of recent election results.

Video 2:

Video showing the Assembly election results of Madhya Pradesh is being shared as recent one claiming that Congress Party leader Kamal Nath had called for the Legislative party meeting to form the Government.

Claim: Video showing recent election results of Madhya Pradesh where Kamal Nath forms Government as Congress gets majority seats.

Fact: Video shows the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly election results which were declared on 12 December 2018. Congress won 114 seats and BJP got 109 seats out of the total 230 seats. Kamal Nath served as the CM until his resignation in March 2020. BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the current CM of Madhya Pradesh. Next assembly elections for Madhya Pradesh will be held at the end of 2023. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING

Original video was uploaded by ‘News24’ on its YouTube channel on 12 December 2018 with the title “Kamal Nath called a meeting of Legislative Party. Kamal Nath can be the new CM of Madhya Pradesh”. The video shows the assembly election results of Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Mizoram, and Chhattisgarh which were held in November and December of 2018.

In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, Congress won 114 seats and the BJP won 109 seats out of the total 230 seats. Congress Leader Kamal Nath became the Chief Minister of MP. However, when Kamal Nath resigned for his post before facing trust vote in March 2020, BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan became the Chief minister. The next assembly elections for Madhya Pradesh will be held at the end of 2023.