Claim: A social media post of a news clipping from a newspaper states that 21 Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) candidates returned their party tickets before the election.
Fact: The claim is false as the news clipping is not from 2023. The news was published in the Urdu daily newspaper Khabrain during the 2018 general elections.
On 6 April 2023, a blue-tick verified Twitter account posted a picture of a news clipping from an Urdu newspaper that, translated into English, reads, “21 League candidates returned their tickets.” The word League here refers to the PML-N. The image caption reads, “21 League candidates returned their ticket to Maryam Nawaz. Now even if they cry, shout we will not participate in elections on the ticket of PML-N.”
Fact or Fiction?
A reverse image search on Google Lens showed a tweet published on 6 April 2023 in which a full image of the news clipping with the newspaper’s header can be seen. The date seen in the top right corner of the picture reads 1 July 2018.
A closer look at the image showed that the news clipping is from the daily Urdu newspaper Khabrain. Soch Fact Check searched the publication’s digital archives and found the same news published on 1 July 2018.
Screenshot of Daily Khabrain digtal newspaper from 1 July 2018
The news story reads that 21 candidates of PML-N from South Punjab, including Rajanpur and Bahawalnagar districts, returned party tickets and decided to participate in the 2018 general elections as independent candidates. A detailed version of the news can be seen below:
Screenshot of complete news story published on 1 July 2018
Virality
The false tweet received 279.6k views, 3,000 retweets and 9,000 likes on Twitter. It was also shared by pro-PTI accounts here, here, here and here.
On Facebook, the false claim was shared here, here, here, here and here between 6 – 8 April 2023.
Conclusion: The news claiming that 21 candidates of PML-N returned their party tickets is not from 2023. Old news clipping from the Daily Khabrain 2018 report was reshared with a misleading claim.