The Election Commission of India has directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to cease the delivery of Viksit Bharat messages via WhatsApp on immediate effect. The ECI's directive also requires MeitY to promptly provide a compliance report on the issue.
The Commission stated that despite the announcement of the General Elections 2024 and the implementation of the MCC, it had received numerous complaints regarding the continued delivery of such messages to citizens' phones.
In reply, MeitY notified the commission that while the letters were dispatched prior to the implementation of the MCC, there might have been delays in delivering some of them to recipients due to systemic and network constraints.
What did the message say?
Over the last weekend, many individuals in India received a message via WhatsApp from a verified business account named "Viksit Bharat Sampark," containing a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi soliciting feedback and suggestions on Indian government initiatives.
This WhatsApp message was also received by several Indian expatriates and foreigners residing in the United Arab Emirates.
The message indicated that it was dispatched by the Government of India "under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji". It emphasised the significance of feedback and suggestions from beneficiaries of schemes launched by the Modi government to realise the vision of a developed India.
The message was accompanied by a letter from the prime minister that listed various government schemes and invited ideas and suggestions from the public.
It also thanked them for their “support” on issues like “GST [Goods and Services Tax], abrogation of Article 370, new law on triple talaq, Nari Shakti Vandan Act to enhance women’s participation in the Parliament, the inauguration of a new Parliament building and strong steps against terrorism and Left-Wing extremism”.
The message was sent from Viksit Bharat Sampark business account on WhatsApp and is linked to the phone number with +91 country code preceding it, showing that it is registered in India.
The bio section of the account read “Viksit Bharat Sampark is an ongoing initiative of the Government of India for evaluation of the flagship schemes and improvement of its implementation and delivery.”
The account touted itself as a “public and government service”, mentioning the address and the website of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in its bio. As per Truecaller, the number is registered in Haryana, and has been reported as spam 211 times till now.
How did the opposition react?
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor shared a screenshot displaying a LinkedIn post by a Pakistani residing in the UAE, asserting receipt of a message on WhatsApp. Numerous other foreigners in the LinkedIn comment section similarly claimed to have received the message.
Tharoor wrote, “Will the Election Commission take note of such a blatant misuse of government machinery and government data to serve the partisan political interests of the ruling party?”
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, accusing the prime minister of violating the Model Code of Conduct regarding the publication of advertisements funded by public exchequer.
Kerala Congress also attacked the incumbent party over “blatant misuse of WhatsApp for political propaganda”. The party posed on X, "The message talks about taking feedback from citizens, but the attached PDF is nothing but political propaganda.”
The Congress unit in Kerala criticised the government for allegedly misusing public data and labeling the message as part of an agenda for the upcoming general elections. Additionally, they raised concerns about WhatsApp's policies concerning political campaigns.
Alluding to WhatsApp policy which prohibits the usage of platform by "political parties, politicians, political candidates and political campaigns", the unit wrote, "If that's the policy, how do you permit a political leader to do propaganda on your platform? Or do you have a separate policy for BJP."