The Election Commission of India (ECI) has come down hard on the central government for sending messages of ‘Viksit Bharat Sampark’ to mobile users and has ordered the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) to stop sending such messages immediately.

A compliance report has also been immediately sought from the ministry in this regard. The Election Commission received complaints about the message post the implementation of the model code of conduct, implied after the declaration of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 schedule.

After the strict stance of the ECI, the ministry replied that these messages were sent before the implementation of the code of conduct. However, due to systematic and network limitations, this message may have been delivered late.

Earlier, the Kerala Congress unit had said that the message sent through ‘Viksit Bharat Sampark’ contains ‘nothing but political propaganda’. It alleged that PM Modi was promoting his campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections under the guise of seeking feedback, misusing the government databases.

The Kerala Congress also shared a screenshot of the WhatsApp policy, which stated that the company has banned the use of the messaging app by political forces, political leaders, political candidates, and political campaigns.

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