Amidst the ongoing Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, a purported clipping of a report by Hindi daily Punjab Kesari stating that Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati is leading the race for UP Chief Minister’s post has gone viral on social media. The strapline below the main headline says that Akhilesh Yadav is at the second position followed by Varun Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.
A Facebook user shared the newspaper clipping with a caption in Hindi that translates to, “Behan ji is coming. Hail BSP Victory BSP.”
(Original: बहन जी आ रही है जय बसपा विजय बसपा)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral news clipping and found out that it is not related to ongoing UP assembly elections.
On performing Reverse Image Search, we found several social media posts carrying the same newspaper clipping dating back to 2016. Varun Gandhi tweeted the clipping on May 1, 2016, with the caption “First credible UP survey for the upcoming election.”
Some other Facebook and Twitter users had also shared the newspaper clipping in 2016.
NewsMobile couldn’t find the Punjab Kesari article in question, however, as the clipping has been in circulation since 2016, it is clear that it is not related to the ongoing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
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