A viral graphic claiming a survey by news outlet South First has predicted a landslide victory for the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) in the upcoming Andhra Pradesh assembly election, is fake.
BOOM found that South First has not released any such survey on the upcoming 2024 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh. Assembly elections are scheduled to be held on May 13, 2024 in the southern state with the results set to be announced on June 4, 2024.
The ruling YSRCP led by CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy faces the opposition alliance of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by N. Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party (JSP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the election.
The viral graphic which carries a logo of 'way2news' attributes the data to South First claiming that the survey was released on March 11, 2024. It gives the ruling YSRCP 121 - 134 seats, the opposition alliance of TDP - JSP - BJP around 21 - 35, 2 - 5, and 1 seats respectively.
A party requires 88 seats out of 175 seats to form a government in the state.
The graphic is being shared on Facebook with the caption which translates to, "South first survey.. 134 seats for YCP"
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral graphic predicting 134 seats to the ruling YSRCP in the upcoming Andhra Pradesh assembly election is fake and that no such survey was released by South First.
South First posted a statement on X calling out the graphic as fake. The post stated, "A fake graphic plate claiming to be a pre-poll survey by @TheSouthfirst and Peoples Pulse for #AndhraPradesh is doing the rounds. South First, Peoples Pulse have not carried out any pre-poll survey for Andhra so far. This image misusing South First's name is fake."
Additionally, Way2News, a hyperlocal short news app, also took to X denying that it had published any such story citing the fake poll survey.
The X handle Fact-check By Way2News (@way2newsfc) posted on March 15, 2024, with the caption, "This is not a #Way2News story. Some miscreants are spreading misinformation using our logo in #MetaGroups, and the 'attached post' has gone viral. We confirm that this has not been published by @way2_news"
BOOM has previously debunked two such fake poll surveys that had gone viral on social media which were claiming a TDP / YSRCP victory in the upcoming assembly elections.
