The Election Commission has instructed the Central government to cease immediately the dissemination of bulk WhatsApp messages to individuals under the “Viksit Bharat Sampark” initiative. The ‘Viksit Bharat Sampark’ initiative aims to gather feedback and suggestions from the public.
The initiative aims to showcase the achievements of the government. The message includes a PDF containing a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The directive was issued to the Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology following complaints received by the Commission regarding the matter.
The Election Commission has reportedly received complaints through the cVIGIL app of the poll panel as well.
The Congress labeled the PDF file containing PM Modi’s attached message as ‘political propaganda’. The Trinamool Congress also objected to the message and requested the Election Commission to take action against this “blatant violation” of the Model Code of Conduct.
The Election Commission stated that this action is part of a series of decisions aimed at ensuring a level-playing field. Requesting the government to ensure there is “no further delivery” of the bulk WhatsApp messages to people, the Commission has asked for an “immediate” compliance report on the matter from the ministry.
