Fact Check: Fake Newspaper Cutting Of Flights Arriving From Gulf Countries Amid Elections Goes Viral

New Delhi Vishvas News – Amidst the Lok Sabha elections 2024, a newspaper cutting is going viral on social media. It has been reported that a surge in enthusiasm for voting is being seen in the Muslim community, leading to increased flights from Gulf countries. Some users are sharing this information by giving it a communal spin.    

Vishvas News’s investigation found this claim to be fake. Additionally, the information about the voting seats in West UP in the first phase is also incorrect. This misinformation also went viral during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2022, with  the timeline  incorrectly attributed to Lucknow.

What’s Going Viral?

Some users forwarded this cutting to Vishvas News’ tipline number +91 9599299372, seeking clarification on its authenticity. It claims, “Enthusiasm for voting in Muslim community. All flights coming from Gulf countries are full.”

Investigation:

We investigated the newspaper cutting to verify the viral claim and we noticed some inaccuracies.  

The information provided in Jaipur Dateline states that the first phase of voting is scheduled for April 19. Additionally, the elections are set to be held on 58 seats in western Uttar Pradesh. It also mentions that the campaigning has been banned in anticipation of the first phase of voting.

The viral post is dated to April 16, 2024, while the election campaign for the first phase closed on April 17, 2024, at 6 pm. According to the news published on the website of Dainik Jagran, the candidates of political parties were able to campaign until 6 pm on April 17, 2024. This indicates that information provided in the viral post is misleading.

The news published in Dainik Jagran states that in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024, voting will be held on eight seats of Uttar Pradesh. These include Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Pilibhit, Rampur, Moradabad and Nagina. If only eight seats are scheduled for voting in the first phase across the state, then the information regarding voting on 58 seats in the western UP in the first phase is also incorrect.  

The information about the phase-wise elections in Uttar Pradesh was posted on March 31, 2024, from the official X handle of the Election Commission, as archived. According to the post, elections are scheduled to be held on eight seats in the state during the first phase.

Following this, we conducted a Google search  using relevant keywords but did not find any media report that could confirm the viral claim.

During our search, we discovered that such posts had gone viral during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2022 also. On February 10, 2022, a Facebook user named Amit Singh had also shared a similar post (archive link).

The post shared in February 2022 mentioned the dateline as Lucknow and the first phase of voting was stated February 10, 2022. While comparing the old and the new posts, we observed a difference in the voting date, however, all other details are the same.

We contacted Make My Trip’s office in Model Town, Delhi regarding the status of flights coming from the Gulf countries and found that a seat is still available on the flight coming from Dubai to Delhi.    

Earlier, fake newspaper cuttings in the name of Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal have gone viral to spread propaganda. Vishvas News had fact-checked them as well and revealed the truth.

We scanned the profile of the Facebook user who shared the fake news. The user lives in Faridabad and has around 3300 friends.