Viral India Today exit poll graphic showing BJP leading in Amritsar is fake

An exit poll graphic credited to India Today has gone viral across social media platforms, which shows the BJP in the lead in Amritsar. According to the viral graphic, the BJP is getting 33% of the vote share in the Lok Sabha seat.

Users have amplified it pointing out that BJP candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu was winning in Amritsar against AAP’s Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Congress’s Gurjeet Singh Aujla, and SAD’s Anil Joshi.

X user Michael Rahul tweeted this graphic on May 27. His post has been viewed more than 25,000 times, at the time of the writing of this article. (Archive)

Several other users on Facebook also posted the exit poll graphic with the same claim.

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Fact Check

To begin with, it must be noted that exit polls were banned till June 1, the last day of poling. This was announced by the election commission at the beginning of the polling process.

Ban on Exit Poll🚫

Time Period 👇

7.00 AM – 19 April 2024
To
6.30 PM – 1 June 2024#ChunavKaParv #DeshKaGarv #ECI #Election2024#LokSabhaElection2024 pic.twitter.com/J5VC9W7Dnb

— Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) April 19, 2024

Moreover, the Amritsar LS constituency went to the polls on June 1. Hence, exit poll data could not be available on May 27. These suggest that the viral graphic is not genuine.

We also noted that Rahul Kanwal, the news director of Aajtak & India Today, tweeted about the viral exit poll graphic, confirming that it was fake.

We realise that there’s a lot of interest in the results of the @IndiaToday Axis My India exit poll. But please be certain that any ‘poll’ you see before 6:30 pm on June 1 is fake. It’s good to have so much buzz around our poll, but we don’t want that there be any confusion as a… pic.twitter.com/BDwZDsFKr9

— Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) May 28, 2024

Hence, it is clear that Amritsar exit poll data attributed to India Today which became viral on May 27 is false.