A screenshot of an ABP News survey from March 2016 which predicted that the Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would win 185 seats in Uttar Pradesh if elections were held at that time, has been revived on social media and is being peddled as recent.
The image has gone viral ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in the state early next year with the leading opposition parties besides the BSP, including the Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress vying to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The viral screenshot shows an ABP News graphic showing 403 seats and a breakup of the voting percentage predicted for each party - SP (23%), BSP (31%), BJP+ (24%), Congress+ (11%), Other (11%). The text below this reads, "ABP News - Nielson poll: BSP to win 185 seats if UP Polls are held today"
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Viral on Facebook
The same screenshot is being shared with the misleading claim on Facebook
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral screenshot being shared is from ABP News's Uttar Pradesh election survey from March 2016 in the run-up to the 2017 Uttar Pradesh state elections.
Taking a cue from the viral screenshot and running a simple keyword search, "bsp to win 185 seats Abp news survey", we found the original broadcast from there the image has been taken.
ABP News had broadcasted the poll survey in March 2016 and the video was uploaded on their official YouTube channel on March 16, 2016, with the caption, "ABP News-Nielsen poll: BSP to win 185 seats if UP polls are held today".
At the 1.08 minutes timestamp, we can see the same graphic and anchor that is present in the viral screenshot.
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ABP News had also tweeted on the same election survey back then.
Additionally, ABP News in their recent UP poll survey conducted with C-Voter on December 11, 2021, has predicted that the ruling BJP is in the lead in the state projecting it to win 212 - 224 seats. Read more
BOOM has been debunking misinformation that has gone viral recently around the Uttar Pradesh state elections.
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