New Delhi, April 26: In midst of the Lok Sabha elections, various fake messages are being circulated about the number of seats each political party will win. These numbers have been attributed to various media houses and intelligence agencies to make them look authentic. One such message which is being circulated claims that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get 145 to 177 seats in the parliamentary polls. Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Schedule: Voting In 7 Phases From April 11 to May 19, Counting And Results On May 23.

The message is being attributed to the United States’ intelligence agency CIA. The viral message also states that the reports of the CIA survey is published by the BBC; it also misleadingly carries the broadcasting agency’s logo. However, these messages have been reported as fake. No such survey has been conducted by the CIA and BBC hasn’t published any reports on the Indian Lok Sabha elections.

The headline of the message also has grammatical errors. The headline reads, “The BJP will loose seats and can't make government in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, says CIA Survey.” The message has also given details each seat that the BJP will win in the elections. Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Shiv Sena-BJP Alliance Intact, Will Contest In Maharashtra Together, Says BJP.

Fake message tweet:

Meanwhile, if one clicks on the URL of the message, then the home page of the BCC website will open. But the site contains no such news. After being contacted by the India Today, the BBC replied, “This fake survey on the Lok Sabha polls has been circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook, with messages claiming it to be from the BBC News. We'd like to make it absolutely clear that it is fake and does not come from the BBC. The BBC does not support pre-election surveys in India.”

Several other messages have also been circulated Facebook, which claims that according to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the BJP will have a landslide victory in the elections. These messages are also fake. BJP May Emerge Single-Largest, But Another PM Term For Narendra Modi Unlikely: Sharad Pawar's Prediction For Lok Sabha Elections 2019,

Last month, Facebook removed 2,632 pages, Groups and accounts that were engaged in coordinated inauthentic behaviour from Iran, Russia, Macedonia and Kosovo on its platform, as well as on Instagram. Meanwhile, the social networking site had also removed 103 pages for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behaviour against India as part of a military-backed network that originated in Pakistan. The individuals used fake accounts to operate military fan Pages, general Pakistani interest Pages, Kashmir community Pages and hobby and news pages.

Fact check

Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Results Prediction by CIA Is Fake; Here's The Truth
Claim :

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get 145-177 seats in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, CIA survey

Conclusion :

A message that claims that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get 145 to 177 seats in the parliamentary polls is fake.

Full of Trash
Clean

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2019 02:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).