Fact Check: News18 opinion poll predicting majority to YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha polls 2024 is edited

The actual News18 opinion poll gave majority vote share to NDA, not YSRCP.

By Sridhar Published on 23 March 2024 12:22 PM GMT

News18 opinion poll Andhra Pradesh, News18 did not give YSRCP a 50% vote share prediction.

Claim: Viral screenshot shows YSRCP leading with 50% vote share in Andhra Pradesh in the opinion poll for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 released by News18.

Fact: The screenshot has been edited to change the percentage. In reality, the News18 opinion poll predicted a 41% vote share and 7 seats for the YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh, while the NDA is expected to secure a 50% vote share and 18 seats.

Hyderabad: The result of a purported opinion poll by News18 declaring a majority win for the YSRCP in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh has gone viral. A viral screenshot of the News18 Mega Opinion Poll projected YSRCP as the winner with 50 per cent of the total votes while giving NDA 41 per cent of vote share. There are 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party have formed an alliance for the upcoming polls.

A Facebook user posted the screenshot of the survey, with the caption, “YSRCP going to clean sweep once again in the upcoming 2024 elections with 50% vote share in Andhra Pradesh”. [Archive]

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the viral screenshot is edited from the actual News18 opinion poll which gave majority vote share to NDA, not YSRCP.

By doing a Google reverse image search of the viral image, we found a video on the YouTube channel of News18 titled ‘Mega Opinion Poll: Election Showdown: Modi vs. Rahul! Who Will Win India's Heart? News18 LIVE’. It was published on March 14, 2024.

At the 9:11:10 timestamp in the video, the News18 news team displayed the predicted vote share for the major parties in AP, showing the NDA getting 50 per cent of votes and YSRCP 41 per cent.

Furthermore, in the original video, the YSRCP name is displayed in the first line, whereas in the viral screenshot, it appeared in the second line. This indicated that the viral screenshot had been altered by editing the sequence of names.

Here’s the comparison of the two screenshots.

According to the mega opinion poll, out of a total of 543 Lok Sabha seats, the NDA coalition led by the BJP is projected to win 411 seats, while the INDIA bloc led by Congress is expected to win 105 seats, and others are predicted to win 27 seats. These results were broadcast live on News18’s YouTube channel.

Therefore, we conclude that the screenshot showing a News18 opinion poll giving YSRCP the majority vote share in Andhra Pradesh for the Lok Sabha election polls 2024 has been manipulated to be misleading.

Claim Review:Viral screenshot shows YSRCP leading with 50% vote share in Andhra Pradesh in the opinion poll for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 released by News18.

Claimed By:X and Facebook users

Claim Reviewed By:NewsMeter

Claim Source:Facebook

Claim Fact Check:False

Fact:The screenshot has been edited to change the percentage. In reality, the News18 opinion poll predicted a 41% vote share and 7 seats for the YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh, while the NDA is expected to secure a 50% vote share and 18 seats.