As the Karnataka state election date approaches, political parties are seizing every opportunity to wield power. From the BJP to the Congress, everyone is fighting vigorously to gain a foothold in the state of Karnataka. However, with the elections comes a slew of narratives. Recently, a Twitter handle with the username “C-voter Survey” posted an infographic image showing that the Congress party is comfortably crossing the majority line. According to the “C-voter Survey,” out of 224 seats, Congress will gain 153 seats, the BJP will win merely 42 seats, and the JDS will win 17 seats.
The supposed “C-Voter Survey” brought much-needed solace to the Congress party at a time when practically every election poll in Karnataka suggests a hung election. Furthermore, following the publication of this report, more than a dozen Congress party workers were seen in a joyful mood, with a couple even propagating the “C-Voter Survey” findings.
Moreover, the alleged survey gained a lot of attention. In 48 hours, the Twitter post got more than 2100 likes and more than 6,000 retweets. Now, let us see who shared these alleged findings with their own individual claims.
Randeep Singh Surjewala, a prominent voice of the Congress and a member of the Rajya Sabha, wrote, quoting the survey’s report, “The Congress wave is here with blessings of people.”
Rohan Gupta, a Congress spokesperson, wrote quoting the “C-Voter” survey report, “There is a Congress storm in Karnataka. The 40% commission government ensured 40 seats for the BJP.”
Another spokesperson of the Congress Party, Sujata Paul, wrote, “Lucky people of Karnataka.”
Ruchira Chaturvedi, a national convenor of the Congress social media department, wrote gleefully, “It’s a Congress wave in Karnataka.”
Paul Koshy, a staunch Congress supporter who peddles an anti-BJP agenda. While sharing the C-voter survey, Paul wrote, “This is to all those who insisted that the 3700 km long BharatJodoYatra in which millions of Indians walked was a waste.
Sweeties, hard work for noble objectives never goes waste. But then, how can a Sanghi ever understand that”
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Fact Check
Before digging into this any further, let me state that “C-Voter Survey” is an Indian polling agency headquartered in Delhi. Yashwant Deshmukh is the director and founding editor of CVoter.
However, is this particular “C-Voter Survey” handle an authentic handle of a genuine “C-Voter Survey” agency or not? We will find out soon.
We Googled the C-Voter Survey with relevant keywords like “C-Voter Twitter handle,” and discovered that this survey business has an official page named “CVoter India.” The profile’s bio says, “Official Twitter Handle of CVoter’s India Operations.” CVoter India’s Twitter account has been active since 2014 and has 11.6k followers. Most crucially, nearly every prominent journalist and individual with a foot in a media agency has followed CVoter India.
Whereas, the other Twitter handle with the username, “C-Voter Survey,” has only been operational since 2022 and has a following of only 1335 people. Furthermore, other than a few Congress IT cell workers, no one of substance is following the C-Voter Survey Twitter handle.
As the ruse was unfolding it became evident that “CVoter India” is an official Twitter account of the C-Voter survey agency, while the other account “C-Voter Survey,” is simply an imposter of the authentic survey agency.
Only Fact took this investigation further and looked into Yashwant Deshmukh‘s Twitter account. After combing through a few tweets, we found that on April 23rd, Yashwant Deshmukh made an appeal to Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, to put an end to the fake handles of legacy brands.
Deshmukh wrote while quoting the fake C-voter survey findings, “Dear Elon Musk, I totally understand you want us to buy our blue tick, we might even opt for the same. But at least blatantly fake handles of legacy brands should not be allowed by Twitter. Wonder if paying for the blue tick guarantees to stop this abuse. Can it ??”
Now, there is ample evidence to support the fact that the C-voter survey is a fake impersonation of the authentic CVoter India Twitter handle. However, the top guns of the Congress Party shared the fake post with its dubious claim without any cross-verification.
After investigating further, we found out that the fake account “C Voter Survey” is constantly promoting the Congress narrative. A couple of days ago, the account shared that infographic image with the claim that Rahul Gandhi is the preferred leader for PM with 46 percent of the vote, while PM Modi is less favored with only 35 percent of the vote. Nevertheless, Yashwant Deshmukh refuted these ludicrous claims as well.
The grand old party is desperate for a victory in the Karnataka state assembly elections. There is no doubt that the Congress party will go to any length to acquire electoral momentum. Sharing and peddling fabricated narratives are just two instances. Only Fact, on the other hand, is as vigilant as ever in separating the actual news from the fake news.
| Claim | Congress is comfortably crossing 150 seat mark in the Karnataka State assembly elections. |
| Claimed by | Fake Twitter handle of “C-Voter” survey, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Rohan Gupta and other Congress members. |
| Fact Check | Misleading |
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