Assertion
On 20 January 2014, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today editor Rahul Kanwal made the following claim on Twitter:
Facts
On 20 January 2014, Aaj Tak conducted a poll with the following question (translated from Hindi below):
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is sitting on an agitation against the central Government. Do you think he is doing the right thing?
Readers were presented with three voting choices: Yes, No and Cannot say.
As of 7:30 P.M on 20 January 2014, the poll results were as follows:
It is clear from the preceding screenshot that 38.6 per cent supported Kejriwal’s decision to agitate against the UPA government while 57.9% did not view Kejriwal’s agitation in a positive light.
This apart, a similar poll conducted by NDTV shows the following result:
This apart, Rahul Kanwal does not mention a fundamental fact about surveys and polls: sample size.
Verdict
Merely stating that “Polls on Hindi channels show more than two thirds of respondents support @ArvindKejriwal dharna” reflects non-transparent, if not irresponsible journalism.
However, in this case, Rahul Kanwal has openly stated a falsehood contrary to the results shown on his own channel.
IndiaFacts verdict: Rahul Kanwal’s claim that polls on Hindi channels show that the majority of people support Arvind Kejriwal’s dharna exposes him to be an Incorrigible Liar.
IndiaFacts Staff articles, reports and guest pieces