Fake Dainik Bhaskar Clipping Showing INDIA Alliance Win In 10 States Viral

A fake newspaper clipping of Dainik Bhaskar is viral on social media with the claim that it shows the results of joint survey by Dainik Bhaskar and Nelson predicting a victory for the INDIA alliance in ten states.

BOOM found that the viral clipping is fabricated, and does not correspond to the real publication. Dainik Bhaskar's national editor LP Pant further confirmed the same to BOOM and rubbished the viral clipping as fake.

The survey showed the INDIA alliance being ahead of the BJP-led NDA in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana.

One of the viral captions on X shared with the image read, "Dainik Bhaskar-Nelson Survey: In 10 states INDIA alliance is leading & could cross 200 in these 10 states alone. Even in the Hindi heartland states, Modi's image is not enough to get votes for the BJP. NDA is looking at washout from Bihar, Bengal & Maharashtra."

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Fact Check

BOOM noticed that the viral newspaper clipping of Dainik Bhaskar was dated April 13, 2024, and had 'Bhopal' written next to the date, indicating that it was the Bhopal edition of the publication.

We then accessed the e-paper of Dainik Bhaskar's Bhopal edition dated April 13, 2024, and after a thorough perusal of the entire edition, were unable to find any such report on a survey predicting a victory for the INDIA alliance in ten states.

We reached out to LP Pant, the national editor of the publication, who confirmed to us that the viral newspaper clipping is fake.

He also shared a statement in Hindi posted on X in response to a now-deleted tweet by journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. The tweet translates to English as, "Sir, Dainik Bhaskar has not conducted any such survey. A fake survey has been published using Bhaskar's masthead. You should also check its authenticity before sharing it. Dainik Bhaskar will take legal action on your post."

Furthermore, BOOM was unable to find any other survey that indicated the INDIA alliance winning in 10 states.