On 29th November, the President of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Telangana, Venkat Balmoor, shared a fake Intelligence Bureau press note claiming the Congress party would win Telangana elections. Later, he deleted the post, but the screenshots of it went viral on social media.
In the now-deleted post, Balmoor wrote, “Game over for BRS. IB report says it’s a clear majority for Congress in Telangana.”
The so-called IB report was dated 23rd November 2023. While the report’s heading suggested “Intelligence Bureau”, the logo of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) was next to it. It was claimed in the fake press note that following the on-ground assessment, it was found that Congress was expected to win over 72 seats with a 44 per cent vote share. It further claimed the ruling party, BRS, would get around 34-37 seats, and BJP would end up with 2-4 seats. Polling for Telangana assembly elections will take place tomorrow, 30 November, while the votes will be counted on 3 December.
For those who are unaware, R&AW reports to the Prime Minister’s office. On the other hand, the Intelligence Bureau reports to the Home Ministry.
Balmoor was one of many to share the fake IB report. In a post, Telangana Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) President’s official X account shared the fake IB report and wrote, “Game over for BRS. IB report says it’s a clear majority for Congress in Telangana.” He added, “This report has been reportedly submitted to the Union Home Ministry.” Reportedly, INTUC maintains a close relationship with the All India Congress Committee or AICC.
Chairman of INC Puducherry Korkadu Ashok also shared a similar post.
Earlier, the Aam Aadmi Party used such tactics. On several occasions, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal claimed that his party would win the elections, per the IB reports. However, AAP only cited imaginary IB reports, unlike Congress leaders, who went one step ahead and shared a fake “confidential” IB report on social media.
In October 2022, Arvind Kejriwal cited an imaginary IB report and claimed that AAP would win the Gujarat Assembly elections. When the results were declared, AAP managed only five seats and lost the deposit on 126 seats. After losing the election, AAP leader Naresh Balyan claimed Kejriwal never talked about reports by the Intelligence Bureau. He was talking about reports from “Internal Broadcasting” that gives the assessment of the seats. Notably, there are videos available where Kejriwal is specifically saying Intelligence Bureau that can be checked here and here. The tweet by Balyan, despite being fake, was not removed. In 2017, Kejriwal shared an unverified “IB report” stating a clean sweep for AAP in Punjab. AAP managed to win a few seats, but the election winner was Congress.
