A set of photos claiming to show an Intelligence Bureau report document being reported by Telugu channel ETV Andhra Pradesh predicting a landslide victory for the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) in the upcoming Andhra Pradesh assembly election, is fake.
BOOM found that the report is fake and no such survey has been conducted by the Intelligence Bureau. Additionally, ETV Andhra Pradesh has also not reported any such IB report as being claimed in the viral posts.
Andhra Pradesh assembly elections are held along with the general elections, for which voting is scheduled to be held on May 13, 2024. The ruling YSRCP led by CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy faces the opposition alliance of TDP led by N. Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan's JSP, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the election. A party requires 88 seats out of 175 seats to form a government in the state.
In the viral photo, the survey report claiming to be conducted by the IB predicts the ruling YSRCP would win 124 seats, the opposition alliance of TDP-JSP-BJP would get around 51 seats. This photo is also being shared with news graphics claiming to be from ETV Andhra Pradesh reporting on this IB report.
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The same viral photos are being shared on X with the false claim. BOOM also received the viral photo on our WhatsApp tipline number (+91 7700906588) inquiring about it.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral IB document is fake. The IB does not conduct election surveys and is India's domestic intelligence, internal security and counter-intelligence agency that deals with garnering intelligence from within India and also execute counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism tasks.
Additionally, ETV Andhra Pradesh also posted on X stating that the viral ETV AP news graphics are fake, and the channel has not reported on any such IB report on the assembly election.
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BOOM has previously debunked similar photos of fake documents falsely claiming to be "internal IB reports" that had gone viral during the 2021 West Bengal assembly election.