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Election Commission orders takedown of Jharkhand BJP’s social media post
Jharkhand CEO said that a takedown notice was sent to X/Twitter on Sunday and an FIR was also filed, much before the ECI sent communication to his office.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday ordered the state poll chief to take down a video posted by the Jharkhand BJP on social media platforms, saying that it violated the Model Code of Conduct in place for the November 20 assembly elections.
The poll panel’s decision came following a complaint by the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and ally Congress. The JMM and Congress, in their complaint to the poll panel on Sunday, objected to the “misleading and divisive” video posted by the Jharkhand BJP.
Taking note of the complaint, EC instructed the Jharkhand CEO to direct the social media companies, including X/Twitter, to take down the posts immediately through the designated authority of the state under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act. It further asked the state poll chief to also send notice to the BJP, and submit an action taken report.
“It is therefore, directed to take immediate action as per existing laws and procedures and thereafter direct the concerned social media platforms, through the authority designated in the State of Jharkhand under section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act to take down the referred posts immediately. You are simultaneously and additionally directed to suitably serve a due notice on BJP Jharkhand to explain the alleged violation of provisions of MCC by the party on account of their referred social media posts. The party may be directed to immediately take down the said post,” ECI’s letter said.
Jharkhand CEO K Ravi Kumar told HT that a takedown notice was sent to X/Twitter at around 11am on Sunday and an FIR was also filed, much before the ECI sent communication to his office. The takedown notice was sent by S Karthik, DIG (special branch), who is also acting as the nodal officer of the state’s social media monitoring cell. A takedown notice to Meta is in the works, Karthik said.
The tweet the ECI wants taken down was posted by the official BJP Jharkhand X handle (@BJP4Jharkhand) on November 16. The 54-second video shows a group of seemingly poor Muslim people arriving at the house of an affluent Hindu family that voted for JMM, and taking over their house. It ends with two people from a ‘basti’ telling the house owner, “The people you voted for got these people here. … so why should our ‘basti’ be the only one to be destroyed? Your house should be destroyed, too.”
The video, which was also posted by BJP Jharkhand’s Facebook account, shows a poster outside the house supporting JMM with a photo of a person resembling Hemant Soren. The poster reads, “Pure Jharkhand ka kaya palat kar denge [we will change the composition of all of Jharkhand]”. Both Congress and JMM complained about it to the ECI on Sunday.
Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act allows the “appropriate” government or “its agency” to issue takedown orders to intermediaries for illegal content. HT could not find any public order or notification designating a section 79(3)(b) officer for the state of Jharkhand.
The JMM, in its complaint, said that the video “is rife with baseless allegations and falsehoods whose sole purpose is to unduly influence voters to dissuade them from voting for any opposition party and for the BJP to make unfair electoral gains in the State of Jharkhand”. The JMM said that this video violates the ECI’s “guidelines against hate speech, misinformation, and defamatory content in the digital sphere” and that BJP Jharkhand’s Twitter handle poses “a serious threat to the integrity of the democratic process and undermine the trust of the voters”.
The Congress said that the video “propagates a false narrative about members of a particular religious community” and “directly invokes religious identity as a call/appeal for votes”, in violation of the MCC and the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
