No, This Graphic Doesn’t Show Rahul Gandhi’s Popularity Due to Bharat Jodo Yatra

The figures are taken from Aaj Tak's Mood of the Nation survey, conducted before the 2019 general elections.

The graphic was created using figures from Aaj Tak's 2019 survey, preceding the general elections.

(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

A screenshot of an Aaj Tak bulletin is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows increasing popularity of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, following the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra, when compared to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, the claim is false and the graphic has been presented in a misleading manner.

The screenshots are taken from the channel's 2019 'Mood of the Nation' survey, which was conducted before the 2019 general elections. Additionally, both graphics (the one with Gandhi and the other with Modi) show different figures.

• PM Modi's graphics shows that 46 percent of respondents chose him in a popularity vote, while Gandhi stood at 34 percent.

• The second one shows Rahul Gandhi polling at 52 percent when the respondents were asked about the "best candidate to replace Narendra Modi as the next prime minister."

The Quint had previously debunked the same image in 2019, when it was being shared as a poll for the "next prime minister."

CLAIM

The Tripura Pradesh Youth Congress' verified Twitter account shared the graphic as one showing Rahul Gandhi's popularity over Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.

An archive of this tweet can be seen here.

Similar posts on social media can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Using relevant keywords from the graphics, we looked for details about the survey with the figures on YouTube. The search led us to a video by Aaj Tak's verified YouTube channel, published on 24 January 2019.

The bulletin discussed the 2019 general elections, and showed a survey conducted among 12,116 people about the contesting candidates.

Here, we saw the graphic for PM Modi seven minutes and 56 seconds into the video.

It mentioned that it showed 46 percent of the survey's respondents voting for Modi in a popularity vote, whereas 34 percent of them voted for Rahul Gandhi.

This graphic shows 46 percent of the survey's respondents picking Modi in a popular vote. 

At the 23:30 minute mark, we saw the graphic for Rahul Gandhi polling at 52 percent.

Here, the people had responded to the question, ""Who do you think is the best candidate to replace Narendra Modi as the next prime minister?"

Respondents picked Gandhi as a leading choice to replace Modi in 2019.

Trinamool Congress' Mamata Banerjee polled at eight percent, followed by Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav polling at five percent for this question, among other candidates.

Aaj Tak also issued a clarification on the graphic on 13 October 2022 saying that the graphic was "photoshopped" and that they had not conducted a survey on the claim.

Evidently, figures from an old survey conducted before the 2019 general elections are being misrepresented as ones showing Gandhi's popularity over Modi, due to Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra.

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