Directions for the following 2 (two) items: Consider the given information and answer the two items that follow.
No supporters of ‘party X’, who knew Z and supported his campaign strategy, agreed for the alliance with ‘party Y’; but some of them had friends in ‘party Y’.
With reference to the above information, consider the following statements:
- 1.Some supporters of ‘party X’ knew Z.
- 2.Some supporters of ‘party X’, who opposed Z’s campaign strategy, knew Z.
- 3.No supporters of ‘party X’ supported Z’s campaign strategy.
Which of the statements given above is/are not correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) 3 only
The information confirms that some party X supporters knew Z and supported his strategy. That makes statement 1 true and statement 3 false. Statement 2, about supporters who opposed the strategy, is neither confirmed nor contradicted, so only statement 3 can be called not correct.
- From 'some of them had friends in party Y', there exist party X supporters who knew Z and supported his strategy.
- Statement 1: some party X supporters knew Z — true.
- Statement 3: it says no party X supporter backed Z's strategy — this contradicts the information, so it is not correct.
- Statement 2: the information is silent about supporters who opposed the strategy, so it cannot be marked incorrect; it is simply not established.
- Only statement 3 is not correct.
- ✓ 1. The supporters described knew Z, so 'some supporters of party X knew Z' must hold.
- ✓ 2. Not contradicted: the information says nothing about supporters who opposed the strategy, so this may well be true and cannot be called incorrect.
- ✗ 3. The information describes party X supporters who did support Z's campaign strategy, so this statement is false.
Remember · 'Not correct' means contradicted by the information. A statement the information is merely silent about is not proved wrong.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·