By: Soham Shah
May 30 2024
Video from 2019 shared as BBC's prediction for 2024 Indian general election
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Post claiming BBC predicts 347 seats for the NDA in 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. (Source:X)
Fact-Check
The Verdict Misleading
The viral clip shows a BBC anchor announcing live results of the 2019 Indian general elections.
Claim ID bbb4b2ca
What is the claim?
A clip of a BBC broadcast is being shared on social media, claiming to show that the British broadcaster has predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies will win 347 seats in the ongoing Indian general election, while the Congress and allies will win 87 seats.
The anchor in the video says, "As of a few minutes ago the BJP and its coalition partners are leading by a long way. 347 seats, a clear majority. The Indian National Congress and its Allies trail behind, on 87 seats." The video is being shared claiming that it is either an opinion or exit poll for the election by the BBC.
Voting for the last phase of the Lok Sabha election will be held on June 1, and the results will be declared on June 4.
One such post on X (formerly Twitter) was shared with the caption "अब तो बीबीसी ने भी मोदी जी को 347 सीट दे दी है। 4 जून तक तो मौज़ ले लेने देते भाई...!". (Translation: Now even the BBC is predicting 347 seats for Modi. Should have let them enjoy till June 4 at least…)
The text inlaid on the video reads "May you be destroyed BBC, we won't let Rahul be PM even in the dreams of bootlickers like you. Should have let them enjoy till June 4 at least".
Archives of such posts can be accessed here, here, here and here.
Posts claiming the BBC prediction relates to the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. (Source:X)
However, we found that this clip is old and from when the results of 2019 Lok Sabha elections were being announced.
What is the truth?
Using a Google search, we found an extended version of the video (archived here) on BBC News's YouTube channel, posted on May 23, 2019, with the title "India election results 2019: Narendra Modi takes landslide win - BBC News". The viral clip can be seen at timestamp 0:03 in this video.
In the video, the presenter announces live results of the Lok Sabha elections, the counting for which happened on May 23, 2019. In this context, she says the BJP and allies have won 347 seats, and the Congress and allies have won 87 seats.
In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 353 seats, while the party itself won 303 seats. Meanwhile, the United Progressive Alliance, led by the Congress, won 91 seats, while the party won 52 seats.
This makes it clear that the video discusses the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and is not an opinion or exit poll for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In fact, the election commission has banned exit polls from April 19, 2024, to 6.30 p.m. on June 1, 2024, in light of the ongoing election.
The verdict
We have marked this claim as misleading. The BBC shared the video in 2019 announcing the results of the Lok Sabha elections. It is unrelated to the ongoing election, and the BBC has not made any such predictions.