Old and unrelated exit poll visuals circulated as the exit poll results for the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 27, 2023
Multiple posts (here and here) are being shared on social media claiming they show exit polls of Rajasthan assembly elections, 2023. Let’s verify these claims made in the posts.
Claim: Posts display the results of exit polls in the Rajasthan Assembly elections of 2023.
Fact: The posts are either disseminating exit poll results from past assembly elections or spreading unverified information claiming to be the results of current exit polls. However, the Election Commission, as per Section 126A of the Representation of People’s Act, issued a notice on 31 October 2023, prohibiting the disclosure of exit poll results until 30 November 2023, in all five states where elections are taking place. Hence, the claims made in these posts are FALSE.
On performing a reverse image search on the post purporting to display exit poll information for Rajasthan from various news channels, it was discovered that the included screenshot actually depicts the exit poll results from 2018 in Rajasthan.
On conducting a keyword search related to the post claiming the presentation of district-wise exit poll results for the Rajasthan Assembly elections in 2023, it was determined that these claims are unsubstantiated. In fact, numerous YouTube channels have presented opinion polls and exit poll forecasts (here and here).
However, it is important to note that the election commission issued a notice on 31 October 2023 prohibiting the announcement of exit poll results as per Section 126A of the Representation of People’s Act. The commission stated that “conducting and publishing or publicizing the exit poll by means of the print or electronic media or dissemination in any other manner whatsoever during the period between 7:00 am on November 7, 2023 (Tuesday) and 6.30 pm on November 30, 2023 (Thursday).”
To sum up, outdated and unrelated exit poll visuals are being circulated as the exit poll results for the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly elections.