Ahead of the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections that is set to begin on 10 February, a screenshot of a purported opinion poll is being circulated on social media to claim that Samajwadi Party and its allies are set to win 350-390 seats out of the 403 Assembly seats in the state.
As per this poll, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be decimated to 1-2 seats as opposed to 300+ seats they won in 2017.
However, we found that the photo is morphed and has been photoshopped on top of an opinion poll which was conducted by Hindi news channel India TV. As per this poll, BJP will get the majority seats in UP and is likely to have a comfortable win.
CLAIM
The photo is being shared claiming that an "important survey" has come out and the "SP+ will get 350-390 seats in the upcoming polls".
An archive of the tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND
We looked on Facebook with relevant keywords and found one post by a user from 1 February. The opinion poll in the screenshot resembled the one shared online.
The graphic card read that it was the opinion poll of 'India-TV ground zero research'.
The text read that it was the opinion poll of 'India-TV ground zero research'.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
Taking this as cue, we searched with relevant keywords on Facebook and found one graphic card on the Facebook page of India TV.
Screenshot of the Facebook post.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
We then did a side-by-side comparison of the two images and could notice the similarities.
Morphed image (L), Image from India TV (R).
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
We noticed:
The text on top, which reads 'Opinion Poll', is the same.
The text underneath, यूपी में सीटों का बंटवारा (seat distribution in UP), is also same.
We also noticed that the saffron robe of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (on the map of UP) can be seen in the morphed image behind Akhilesh Yadav photo. [Marked in green circle]
The India TV news poll has predicted that the BJP is likely to retain UP with 242-244 seats while the SP will secure second spot with 148-150 seats and is likely to improve its 2017 tally.
Clearly, a morphed image of an opinion poll is being circulated on social media claiming that SP is set to bag majority seats in the upcoming UP polls.
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