After the UP assembly elections results, a post went viral on social media claiming that candidates from Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) have “ensured” BJP’s win by dividing the votes. It claims that AIMIM contested “165 seats” where the BJP won with a low margin and these votes would have ensured BJP’s defeat if they had instead gone to the SP-RLD camp.
The post further suggests that Asaduddin Owaisi is hands-in-glove with the BJP, hence doesn’t face any government scrutiny.
In UP BJP won;
7 seats by 200 votes
23 seats by 500 votes
49 seats by 1000 votes
86 seats by 2000 votes.
Total 165 seats
In all these seats Owaisi has scored generously helped BJP!
Now you know why he is excluded from #Pegasus Tapping
&
He deserves Bharat Ratna !
— Shreya (@s_shreyatweets) March 12, 2022
The figures in the viral posts were also carried by The Times of India, Deccan Herald, Lokmat Times, Sambad English and various others.
The post was also shared by Congress leader Digvijay Singh on his Facebook page.
Interesting facts. MIM and BJP are doing exactly what Britishers scripted by promoting Hindu Mahasabha RSS Savarkar on…
Posted by Digvijaya Singh on Saturday, 12 March 2022
Fact-check
We checked the Election Commission of India (ECI) website to see the number of AIMIM candidates who contested the UP elections. We found that the party contested 96 seats out of the 403 seats in the state. This itself debunks the claim that in 165 seats AIMIM candidates “assisted” BJP to win.
We also checked the winning margin data. The viral figures claim that BJP won 86 seats by 2000 votes but according to election data, there are only 29 seats where the winning margin is less than 2000 votes. Of these 29 seats, the winning margin is less than 500 in 11 seats, between 500-1000 in 4 seats, and between 1000-2000 votes in 14 seats.
To sum it up, the viral figure shared by many opposition leaders and supporters is wrong. AIMIM has contested in less than 100 seats. Moreover, the winning margin shown in the viral post is also incorrect.
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