Photo of Aaj Tak’s Tamil Nadu Exit Poll Coverage Viral With Misleading Claims

The viral screenshot of Aaj Tak's Tamil Nadu exit polls shows seats for Congress and parties in the INDIA bloc.

A screenshot showing Hindi news organisation Aaj Tak's coverage of the exit polls for Tamil Nadu, following the last phase of voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has gone viral on social media.

The claim: Those sharing the screenshot have claimed that the channel has misrepresented figures for the Congress, by giving it more seats than it contested from.

(Archives of more claims on social media can be seen here, here, and here.)

Is it true?: No. The claim is misleading.

• The screenshot shows figures for BJP+ (Bharatiya Janata Party), Congress+, DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), AIADMK, (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Others.

• The '+' symbol indicates that the BJP and Congress contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in alliance with other parties, and that the figures shown represent estimated seats for the alliances.

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How did we find out?: To verify whether the screenshot was tampered with, we checked Aaj Tak's YouTube channel for their coverage of the Tamil Nadu exit polls.

• Around 30 seconds into one video, we found the same frame seen in the screenshot, which confirmed that the viral image had not been edited.

We noticed that the screenshot carried figures for 'BJP+', 'Congress+', AIADMK, and DMK, along with estimations for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

• The Congress contested as a part of the DMK-led INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu, while the BJP contested in alliance with Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (TAMC), Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.

• In the state, the INDI Alliance consisted of the DMK, Congress, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), the Communist Party of India (CPI), and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK)

• The viral graphic shows discrete numbers for BJP's alliance, the AIADMK, the DMK, and the rest of the INDI Alliance – showed as Congress+.

When the predictions for DMK (20-22) and Congress+ (13-15) are added, the cumulative range (33-37) is close to the number of seats the INDIA bloc (36-42) is expected to win in Tamil Nadu.

How many seats did the INDIA bloc contest from?: We looked for news reports regarding this information, which led us to a Hindustan Times report about the bloc finalising their seat sharing agreement.

It provided a list of parties along with the number of seats they contested from. These are:

• DMK – 21 seats

• Congress – 10 seats.

• VCK – Two seats.

• CPI – Two seats.

• CPI (M) – Two seats.

• MDMK – One seat.

• IUML – One seat.

Conclusion: The viral graphic, which shows the number of seats that the Congress contested from as a part of the INDIA bloc, is being shared with misleading claims.

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