If getting the exit polls results wrong were not enough, now mainstream media has started to wrongly report the actual results too. While the counting for the assembly elections still going on, India Today published a piece of totally misleading news saying that Congress-NCP has taken a lead against BJP and Shiv Sena.
India Today posted a tweet with graphics on Maharashtra election results. In that, while it showed the combined seats of Congress-NCP alliance as 109, they decided to ignore that BJP and Shiv Sena had formed an alliance prior to elections, and showed their winning numbers separately, BJP’s 99 and Shiv Sena’s 57. Thus, the number of Congress-NCP alliance became bigger than the individual numbers or BJP and SS. Although the India Today tweet is factually correct, it creates a wrong impression that the Congress-NCP alliance is leading in Maharashtra assembly elections.
But that is completely wrong interpretation as BJP and Shiv Sena as in an alliance and their combined number is 156, much ahead of Congress-NCP’s 109. The number 156 also crosses the halfway mark of 144 in the Maharashtra assembly with a total strength of 288. Therefore, unlike Haryana which has resulted in a hung assembly, the pre-poll alliance of BJP and Shiv Sena has won a clear majority in Maharashtra. But despite that fact, India Today tried to create confusion in the mind of people by suggesting that Congress-NCP is winning the state.