No, Poll Dates of 2022 Uttar Pradesh Elections Have Not Been Announced Yet
The Election Commission of India has not yet announced the poll dates for the upcoming UP elections.
The claim states that the dates of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections have been announced.
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
Ahead of the upcoming 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, a screenshot of Hindi news channel Aaj Tak is being shared to claim that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the poll dates for the state.
The screenshot shows that the election will be held in seven phases from 11 February to 8 March, and that counting will be on 11 March.
However, we found the screenshot that is being circulated has been taken from an old Aaj Tak Youtube video which was published on 4 January 2017 and showed the dates of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections.
CLAIM
The photo is being shared on Facebook, along with the claim in Hindi that reads, "यूपी चुनाव 2022 जय वीआईपी."
(Translation: UP elections 2022, hail VIP)
An archive of the post can be seen here.
WHAT WE FOUND
The screenshot mentioned the text as "Election Commission announces poll dates for five states, UP starts on 11 Feb...". Taking this as a cue, we searched on Google adding Aaj Tak as a keyword.
We found a YouTube video on Aaj Tak channel that was published on 4 January 2017. The title of the video reads, "Election Commission announces poll dates for 5 states, UP starts on 11 February."
Screengrab from Aaj Tak.
The 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections was held in seven phases beginning on 11 February and ended on 8 March.
The counting of votes in UP was on 11 March, along with four other states – Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.
Meanwhile, the ECI has not yet announced the poll dates for the state.
Clearly, the 2017 UP elections dates is being circulated on social media with the claim that it shows the 2022 UP poll dates.
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