Amidst the hustle and bustle of the UP Elections, many promises are made by the candidates to lure common people. But, the game of winning over the voters is not that simple. It also involves a serious attempt of maligning the image of other candidates. Not only this, this game gets even more wicked when fake information and hateful statements are given by the candidates

Elections in different phases are going on in UP. The results will be announced on 10 March 2022. Till then candidates of all the parties are busy gathering as many voters as they can. In our exclusive report, we will tell the readers about some of these fake claims and hateful tactics used by politicians.

Fact versus fake

We have already covered many fake claims amid the full-fledged election campaign going on in UP. Some of them are- news of Police Arrested SP Leader’s Daughter for Spreading Fake News(link), Akhilesh Yadav disrespect the statue of Gautam Buddha(link), Akhilesh Yadav saying Lawbreakers should vote SP(link), the viral video of the illegal firemen were waved in SP (link).

Furthermore, the fake news related to BJP that we have already covered are BJP party members were attacked during the UP elections 2022(link), Shivraj Chauhan carries doubt over BJP’s victory in Uttarakhand (link), Mayawati Pledged To Support BJP In UP assembly polls, Know The Reality Of The Viral Video (link), BJP leaders chased and beaten (link), Nida Khan joining BJP (link),  The wrong claim made by BJP Leader Sambit Patra By sharing a clipped video of Rahul Gandhi. (link)

Fake letters

There are many fake letters circulated on the internet by the name of the parties like SP and BSP alleging the opposition party. Further, these fake letters also have fake signatures of their leaders. One such fake letter quotes Samajwadi Party (SP) state president Naresh Uttam Patel as appealing to voters who are planning to vote for the SP to vote for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates instead.

Similarly, another fake letter was reportedly being circulated in the name of the BSP as well. One such letter, having a similar title, ‘Bahujan Samaj Party Press Release’, dated February 26, was shared on social media. This letter carried a forged seal of the party and also the forged signature of BSP national secretary Mewalal Gautam. In the same vein, a fake letter was circulated in the name of Santosh Kumar Mishra, the BSP candidate from Vidhan Sabha seat 371, Jafrabad in the Jaunpur district.

That is not all. There are many other fake claims to mislead voters’ minds. We have already covered many more statements and claims. Some are fake, some real but presented misleadingly to create hate in the minds of people.

 Fake claims and sarcasm by Swami Prasad Maurya

In one of his Tweets, SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya alleged the UP chief Minister Yogi by calling him a Mafia and goon for his statements in the Muzaffarpur rally. Further, he also accused UP chief Minister Yogi that he is arrogant and taking pride in his Chattriya caste by sharing a short clip of his interview to mislead people.

He mocked PM Modi in one of his Tweets by saying, “Modi Ji you are great! First, you campaigned for SP by cycling and now you gave respect to SP by wearing a red alert red cap on your head.

Hateful speech by Abbas Ansari

Son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s son, Abbas Ansari said that he asked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav not to transfer any officials just after forming the government, posting will be done after 6 months after the “hisab-Kitab.” An FIR is lodged against him for allegedly threatening the government officials in a public rally in Mau district.

SP leader attacked by BJP workers.

BJP workers attacked the convoy of Swami Prasad Maurya who is contesting from Fazilnagar as a Samajwadi Party candidate. Moreover, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav too condemned the attack and vowed to “reduce the BJP to zero in the remaining two phases of the elections”.

ऐ देखो भाजपा का असली रूप।
योगी जी आप ने हमला करवाया जरूर लेकिन मैं सुरक्षित हूँ। pic.twitter.com/YLpVOG9QO3

— Swami Prasad Maurya (@SwamiPMaurya) March 2, 2022

 Old video shared by BJP leader with the wrong claim

Rakesh Goel of BJP has shared a clip of an old video of Pakistan assembly, falsely claiming, “As soon as the news reached Pakistan that the students of Pakistan in Ukraine had saved their lives by putting the Indian tricolor on their vehicles, then look what happened in the Parliament of Pakistan, the MPs shouted slogans of Imran Murdabad and Modi Zindabad.”

जैसे ही यह समाचार पाकिस्तान पहुंचा कि यूक्रेन में पाकिस्तान के छात्रों ने भारत का तिरंगा अपने वाहनों पर लगाकर वहां से जान बचा कर निकले हैं तो पाकिस्तान की संसद में देखो फिर क्या हुआ, सांसदों ने इमरान मुर्दाबाद व मोदी जिंदाबाद के नारों से हाल गुंजा दिया।#मोदीहैतोमुमकिनहै pic.twitter.com/j7YWaZX90O

— Rakesh Goel( मोदी का परिवार) (@rakeshgoelbjp) March 4, 2022

Controversial Remark by BJP leader Brij Bhusan Singh

A video of BJP vidhayak Brij Bhusan Singh saying that the interviewer that if you have to ask any questions then ask on the topics which can make news. Why are you roaming around on Inflation?

Fake Claims Made By Congress

The major manifesto of the Congress Party in the UP election 2022 is the development of Mahila and Youth. In 2017, Congress only won 7 seats out of 408 seats and almost lost the family hold from the Amethi, UP. The last time Congress came into power in UP was back in 1989. When N.D. Tiwari became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from the Congress Party. Since the last two tenures, Samajwadi Party and Bhartiya Janta Party have made a grip in the UP Assembly polls.

During the election campaign, as an opposition, Congress pinpointed issues like education, farmer’s protest, women’s safety. However, many fake news and misleading claims were made by Congress during the campaigning of UP Election 2022.

Fake claim 1

On the 1^st of February, Rahul Gandhi posted a video where a man is caught assaulting an old man. In the video, the young man was accusing the old man of voting against BJP. Rahul Gandhi captioned the video with the ‘politics of Hinduism defender is hooliganism’

हिंदुत्ववादियों की राजनीति यानि गुंडागर्दी।#Election2022 https://t.co/UYEQmHaXmD

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 1, 2022

Fact check 1

After reverse research, we got a video where both of them claimed that the video was made to aware the people. Therefore, the video was scripted and no such threats took place.

Pappu’s propaganda to divide Hindus busted again. Video was just for entertainment purpose. Delete and apologise to whole hindu community. pic.twitter.com/5taTlVFtt8

— Lala (@FabulasGuy) February 1, 2022

Hence, it is clear that the video was scripted and misleading. But, Rahul Gandhi posted it to mislead people.

Fake claim 2

UP East Youth Congress posted a picture where two men representing the Hindu-Muslim religion are holding a poster that advertises Congress. Through the picture, the user wanted to claim that in UP Election 2022, Congress is in heart of the people. Everyone is equal irrespective of caste, creed, religion under the Congress Party.

गंगा जमुनी तहजीब की तस्वीर
चंद ज़हरीले लोगो के जहर से
खत्म नही होने वाली ।

ये तस्वीर इस और भी इशारा कर रही है कि उत्तरप्रदेश के दिल मे इस बार सिर्फ कांग्रेस है ।

हिन्दू मुस्लिम सिक्ख ईसाई
आपस में हम भाई भाई!

बोलता उत्तरप्रदेश आ रही है काँग्रेस!#AaRahiHaiCongress pic.twitter.com/IfXYI7JRWk

— UP East Youth Congress (@IYC_UPEast) January 10, 2022

Fact check 2

After reverse research, we got to know originally the picture and the poster was made under TMC Party. Nusrat J Ruhii criticized the fake poster of equality. And, she posted the original poster in a tweet on March 3, 2021.

Shameless polarisation coming from the party that understands nothing of unity or peace!

FYI, Mr @amitmalviya people across all religions, caste groups, genders are rallying behind @MamataOfficial owing to her good work. Would recommend having some grip on your politics of hate! https://t.co/kPHt6azW3m pic.twitter.com/fioJXWjZnK

— Nussrat Jahan (@nusratchirps) March 3, 2021

Therefore, the above claim is fake as the picture is photoshopped. But, UP East Youth Congres posted it on their Twitter handle.

Fake claim 3

Bihar Congress posted a picture in which they claimed that free busses have availed for women by the Congress party on 9^th January 2022.

Fact check 3

In reality, the free buses were prevailed in Assam by the Chief Minister, Shri Sarbananda Sonwal. And, Shri Sarbananda Sonwal tweeted about inauguration in his tweet about availing 25 pink busses free of cost for women.

Therefore, the claim is misleading. But, Bihar Congress posted the picture with the fake claim.

Conclusion

That is to say, in the high-profile ongoing election Campaign a lot of fake and misleading news is circulated. Leaders of all the parties are absorbed in using all kinds of tricks and tactics to win the election.

Moreover, the most important thing that is clear from this DFRAC exclusive report is that false claims and hatred are spread by one or more candidates of every party. Hence, it is pretty much clear that different propaganda is run by all the political parties to defame the other parties and to woo the voters.