New Delhi: Taking a step against the violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday, directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to immediately stop ‘Viksit Bharat Sampark’ WhatsApp messages. It also sought a compliance report on the matter.
Millions of Indians have received the ‘Viksit Bharat Sampark’ message with PM Modi’s letter in PDF file format attached to it on their WhatsApp seeking feedback and suggestions from the public. The PDF file mentioned government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ayushman Bharat, Matru Vandana Yojana etc asking for suggestions and support from people. The PDF also promoted the work done by the current government in the last ten years.
Many non-Indians from Pakistan, UAE and even Britain also have received the same WhatsApp message.
The Commission said that it has received several complaints from citizens for receiving such messages on their phones despite the MCC implementation after the announcement of the General Elections.
In a response, MeitY informed the commission that the messages were sent out before MCC came into effect but systemic and network limitations might have caused the delayed delivery.
Congress has called the entire incident political propaganda.
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