Assam Congress chief tweets fake opinion poll about Tripura Elections 2023, later deletes post

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bhupen Kumar Borah has been called out by netizens for tweeting a fake BBC poll about the Tripura Elections in 2023. In the now-deleted tweet, the Congress leader had clubbed a Tripura Elections opinion poll graphic with a BBC news logo, which he poorly edited to show his party as the clear winner of the poll.

The Congress state chief had captioned his tweet to indicate that his party and Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M) would get over 40 seats in the Tripura Elections 2023 results. Both political parties, who are direct opponents in Kerala, had joined hands to form an alliance ahead of the elections.

However, netizens soon identified Bhupen Kumar's post as false and criticized the Congress leader for propagating misleading information. Assam minister and BJP leader Pijush Hazarik also took to Twitter to share a screenshot of the fake BBC opinion poll graphic posted by Bhupen Kumar Borah alongside a screenshot of the original BBC news logo on which the opinion poll was superimposed.

“After non-stop defeat in elections, Congress has been reduced to using poorly edited fake opinion polls. Was this the grand strategy decided at AICC Plenary @BhupenKborah ji? PS: You have also violated the law by sharing fake opinion polls on polling day," tweeted the BJP leader.

Bhupen Kumar Borah quickly withdrew his tweet when he was called out for unethically uploading a modified fake opinion poll to show that exit surveys gave a win for his alliance. The incident has highlighted the dangers of spreading misleading information on social media during election season.