Fabricated Karnataka assembly election survey attributed to Kannada Prabha, newspaper files complaint

The so-called survey never happened and was never published in Kannada Prabha.

A fake election survey is being widely circulated on social media, including the micro-blogging site Twitter, claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party will be defeated in the forthcoming assembly elections in Karnataka. Attributing the fake survey to Asianet News Network's publication Kannada Prabha, it is being claimed on social media that the Congress would win 115-120 seats in the 224-member assembly, followed by 65-70 seats for the BJP.

But, in reality, the so-called survey never happened and was never published in Kannada Prabha.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar took to Twitter to say, "Desperate Sinking Karnataka Congress tactics - putting out fake articles with fake surveys in @kprabhanews name." 

Asianet News Executive Chairman Rajesh Kalra said that a cyber complaint was being lodged against the fake news.

Kannada Prabha Editor Ravi Hegde clarified that the newspaper has decided to take legal action against the fake report. This fake survey comes just before the term of the Karnataka Cabinet is about to come to an end in May 2023. The BJP currently has 119 seats in the 224-member assembly. After the elections held in 2018, Kumaraswamy came to the coalition government as the chief minister, but the government collapsed soon after. The BJP formed the government in 2021 under the leadership of BS Yeddyurappa. In July 2021, Yeddyurappa resigned as chief minister, and Basavaraj Bommai became the Chief Minister. Barring 2013, when its tally plunged to a mere 40 seats and a vote share of 19.89, the BJP has been steadily growing in the state. 

The Karnataka unit leaders of the Congress party have been making claims about pre-election surveys giving the party an absolute majority in the state assembly elections. But considering how fake surveys are being called out, the veracity of their other claims also stands in question.