News Fact Check Fact Check: No, government has not appointed two Election Commissioners yet, viral claims debunked

Fact Check: No, government has not appointed two Election Commissioners yet, viral claims debunked

A post is going viral on social media with the claim that the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has appointed two Election Commissioners. However, in India TV's fact-check, this claim was found to be false.

Election Commissioners Image Source : INDIA TVFact check of appointed two Election Commissioners

India TV Fact Check: In the era of the internet and social media, numerous misleading news or viral videos circulate daily. These stories can be related to any ongoing controversy, news or about politicians or common individuals, and unsuspecting users often fall prey to these false reports, believing and sharing them easily. To caution you against such fake news or misleading information, we bring you "India TV Fact Check." The recent case under scrutiny is about the appointment of Election Commissioners. Several social media users are claiming that the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has appointed two Election Commissioners. However, India TV Fact Check conducted an investigation and found the claim to be deceptive. 

It is pertinent to mention that recently, Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigned from a key post in the poll body, weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.  

What is going viral?

Several social media users shared a notification from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs regarding the appointment of two Election Commissioners to the Election Commission of India. An X user named James Sada shared the notification and wrote, "Two Election Commissioners appointed -Dr. Rajesh Kumar Gupta (retd IAS), Priyansh Sharma (retd IAS)"

This post is going viral

"Rajesh Kumar Gupta and Priyansh Sharma will be the new election commissioner,' said another X user, named Nk Khabar.

India TV did investigation 

We searched on Google using keywords related to the claim made in the viral post. We looked for news articles about the appointment of two Election Commissioners on almost all reliable news websites and portals on the internet, but we did not find any information of this nature on any news portal. After that, we visited the official websites of the Indian government that release information.

First, we searched for information on this matter on the official website of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the Government of India. However, we did not find any information regarding the appointment. Then, we checked the official social media accounts of PIB, but there was no such information available there either. 

Claim turned out to be fake

When no information about the appointment of two Election Commissioners was found anywhere it became clear that the viral post was completely fake. Upon further investigation on the internet, we found a post from the official Twitter account of the PIB Fact Check unit. It states, "A notification regarding the appointment of two Election Commissioners to the Election Commission of India is circulating on social media."

What came out in fact check?

India TV fact-check revealed that the claim of the appointment of two Election Commissioners is false. The government has so far not made any such announcement yet. 

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