DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A circular on the 2024 General Election dates is being shared on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, claiming that it was officially released by the Election Commission Of India (ECI). Digiteye India received three such requests to fact-check on its tipline.
The viral photo has dates mentioned on it claiming that the Code of Conduct would come into effect on March 12, 2024, along with dates for nominations, polling day, counting of votes, and results. The photo is being shared on WhatsApp with different captions and one of them says, Chief Electoral Officer, Election Commission of India. Since the designation of the EC chief is not Chief Electoral Officer but Chief Election Commissioner, we took it up for fact-checking immediately.
Fact Check
The Lok Sabha elections are likely to be held in April-May 2024 but the Election Commission has not made any announcement so far about the schedule. It would have hit the headlines had the EC done so and no news outlet has covered it. Unless the ECI announces the schedule officially, the Code of Conduct will not come into effect and it would be a major news to be covered by all news outlets in the country.
When we searched the official socal media handle of the Election Commission of India, we found the following statement posted on X denying the claim being shared on social media.
A fake message is being shared on Whats app regarding schedule for #LokSabhaElections2024#FactCheck: The message is #Fake. No dates have been announced so far by #ECI.
Election Schedule is announced by the Commission through a press conference. #VerifyBeforeYouAmplify pic.twitter.com/KYFcBmaozE
— Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) February 24, 2024
The caption read, “A fake message is being shared on Whats app regarding schedule for #LokSabhaElections2024 #FactCheck: The message is #Fake. No dates have been announced so far by #ECI. Election Schedule is announced by the Commission through a press conference. #VerifyBeforeYouAmplify”. Hence, the circular and claim are false.
Claim: A Circular claims that the Election Commission has announced the Lok Sabha poll schedule and the Code of Conduct would come into effect from March 12, 2024.
Conclusion: False. No such announcement has been made and the claim was rubbished by the Election Commission of India as fake.
Rating: Misleading — 
