Trinamool Congress leader Sagarika Ghose said on Thursday that it is too little, too late, for the Election Commission to ask the Central government to "immediately halt" sending bulk WhatsApp messages under the "Viksit Bharat Sampark." The messages seek to highlight the government's initiatives. She slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'Viksit Bharat' WhatsApp letter and asked how the saffron party got access to the government database for sending messages to millions of people in and outside India.
Speaking on the matter, Ghose said, "Too little, too late. The fact is that the Trinamool Congress has been repeatedly raising that how is it that the BJP's campaign message on 'Viksit Bharat' is reaching millions of Indians, not only in India but in the UAE by getting access to a government database of telephone numbers. How did the BJP get access to a government database? We have been raising this for two days."
This comes after the EC on Thursday instructed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to cease the dissemination of Viksit Bharat messaging through WhatsApp. The move came after it received complaints about the matter.
The poll body also demanded an immediate compliance report from MeitY regarding this directive, reported ANI. "The move is a part of a series of decisions taken by the Commission to ensure a level-playing field," the Commission said, as quoted by PTI. It has also sought a compliance report on the matter from the ministry.
The ministry had informed the Commission that the messages along with a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi were sent before the Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 16. ".... some of them could have possibly been delivered to recipients with a delay because of systemic and network limitations," the ministry said in a communication to the Commission, as quoted by PTI.
The EC had received several complaints that such messages highlighting the government's initiatives were still being delivered on citizens' phones despite the announcement of the General Elections 2024 and the MCC coming into force.
The Congress and the Trinamool Congress had raised objections to the message and requested the Election Commission to act against this "blatant violation" of the Model Code of Conduct.