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Congress leaders and supporters spread fake ‘Nielsen-Dainik Bhaskar survey’ predicting INDI Alliance win in elections, the newspaper promises legal action

LP Pant, the National Editor of Dainik Bhaskar, announced that the newspaper would be taking action against fake news peddlers

On Saturday (13th April), several I.N.D.I. alliance leaders and their supporters shared a purported survey claiming that it was conducted by Nielsen along with Hindi news daily Dainik Bhaskar. They claimed that the “Nielsen-Dainik Bhaskar” survey predicts a major victory for the I.N.D.I. alliance giving it 326 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.  

The Chairperson of the Congress party’s South Indian Cell and Maharashtra Congress Committee member, Lakshmi Nair shared the so-called survey to boast about the victory for the opposition bloc. In her long post, she shared the region-wise breakdown from the said survey claiming that the saffron party will be wiped out from Delhi, and will survey major losses in states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, etc. 

As per the image shared, the first page of Dainik Bhaskar’s Bhopal edition on 13 April carried the ‘Nielsen-Dainik Bhaskar survey’ in its lead news, showing a victory for INDI Alliance. It also carried state-wise breakup of the survey results, showing the opposition bloc ahead of NDA in several states.

The Hindi report claimed that INDI Alliance is sweeping the polls in the southern states, and making significant gains in the current BJP-ruled states. The survey predicts that if votes were held today, INDI Alliance would win 326 seats, NDA would win 194 seats and 23 seats would be won by others.

However, the entire newspaper clipping is fake, and Dainik Bhaskar didn’t publish such a survey on 13 April.

When the purported survey with the masthead of Hindi news daily Dainik Bhaskar started doing rounds on social media, the newspaper came out publicly to dispel misinformation and categorically pointed out that it was a Fake Survey. The newspaper also demanded strict action against those who are spreading fake news in its name. 

At around 2 PM on 13th April, Dainik Bhaskar tweeted, “#FakeNews: This survey is fake, which has been prepared by some anti-social elements… Dainik Bhaskar does not claim any such content… Strict action should be taken against such people.” They also tagged the Election Commission of India while sharing the cutout of the Fake survey.

Later in the day, the National Editor of the Hindi Newsdaily, LP Pant announced that the newspaper would be taking action against fake news peddlers. Responding to a tweet by journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta posting the fake survey, he wrote, “Sir, Dainik Bhaskar has not conducted any such survey. A fake survey has been conducted using Bhaskar’s masthead. You should also check its authenticity before sharing it. Dainik Bhaskar will take legal action on your post.” 

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta deleted the tweet after the response by LP Pant, but most other tweets posting the fake survey remain online.

It is pertinent to note that several I.N.D.I. alliance supporters continued to peddle the fake survey even after the newspaper categorically called it out as fake news. 

The official spokesperson of Congress Telangana, Hyderabad, Asma shared the survey at around 8:16 PM, hours after the newspaper had pointed out that the said survey was fake. 

Additionally, the official Twitter Account of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Sevadal shared the fake survey at around 7:23 PM.

Similarly, Congress functionary and Cyber Security Researcher Nilesh Malode also shared the fake survey at around 8:15 PM. 

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the CSDS-Lokniti 2024 pre-poll survey has predicted a third term for the Modi government asserting that there is no contender close to the BJP as it holds a massive 12% lead over the opposition bloc.

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OpIndia Staff
OpIndia Staffhttps://www.opindia.com
Staff reporter at OpIndia

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