A screenshot of a bulletin showing a comparison between five political leaders on the parameter of earning a 'positive sentiment' across Twitter is being shared on social media.
The photo shows Congress leader Rahul Gandhi topping the charts with 66 percent votes, leaving Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal behind.
The photo was shared by several users including Rajasthan Youth Congress' verified page, congratulating Gandhi.
But the claim is misleading.
The photo is from 2017 and it shows a survey that was conducted during the Gujarat Assembly polls.
While the results shown in the screenshot are correct, the comparison was between Gandhi, PM Modi, Hardik Patel, former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, and Jignesh Mevani.
CLAIM
Although most people have shared the photo of the bulletin with a praise for Gandhi, the claim comes at a time when he is participating in the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra, a national-level mass mobilisation drive.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We conducted a reverse image search on the picture and came across a report published by English daily Times of India (TOI) on 19 December 2017, which carried a short video of a bulletin about 'sentiments comparison of key individuals'.
The original bulletin showed the following leaders:
Hardik Patel instead of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani instead of Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Gujarat Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani instead of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The comparison shows the difference between the edited screenshot and the original bulletin.
The comparison shows the difference between the edited screenshot and the original bulletin.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
This report was published during the Gujarat Assembly election back in 2017, where Congress had won 77 seats. It also stated that Gandhi visited 27 temples across the state during his campaign which helped him to win votes from the public.
The same video was also uploaded by TOI's YouTube channel on 18 December 2017.
Clearly, an old and morphed screenshot of a Times Now bulletin is going viral on social media.
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