New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday rejected the Congress’ allegation that it had rejected Congress’s application to send SMSes to party workers in Maharashtra in connection with a documentary on alleged electoral misconduct.
In a statement issued by the ministry of communications, TRAI clarified that it “categorically denies any role in the acceptance or rejection of such individual SMS campaigns. The approval or rejection of SMS message templates is carried out by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). TRAI is not involved in the acceptance or rejection of individual SMS campaigns.”
This comes after Congress, on Sunday, alleged that TRAI had blocked its SMS outreach intended to inform workers about a documentary accusing the 2024 Maharashtra elections of being “stolen.” The party claimed the regulator had cited the messages as “protest content.”
Congress data analytics chief Praveen Chakravarty accused the government of using agencies to suppress information, calling the rejection “synchronisation between the home ministry, Election Commission and telecom regulator.” He posted a screenshot on Sunday showing what he said was TRAI’s refusal.
Chakravarty, in his X post, had also attached an image of the rejection communication that appeared to have been received from service provider STPL. In response to this, TRAI said in a post, “Apparently the application was submitted to one of the service providers who rejected it. TRAI was at no stage involved in this process.”
{{/usCountry}}Chakravarty, in his X post, had also attached an image of the rejection communication that appeared to have been received from service provider STPL. In response to this, TRAI said in a post, “Apparently the application was submitted to one of the service providers who rejected it. TRAI was at no stage involved in this process.”
{{/usCountry}}Asked about the Trai statement, Chakravarty said, "We followed the exact same process that we follow for sending bulk SMS to our party workers which we do nearly every week. This time it was rejected. Why? What was so harmful about this message? Trai is trying to absolve itself by passing the blame to its licensed agent. The approval process is laid out by TRAI. These are irrefutable facts.”
The documentary in question was produced by journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta two weeks ago, titled ‘Maharashtra Manipulated? How Elections Were Stolen in India’s 2nd Largest State.’
HT reached out to TSPs like Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea. Airtel refused to comment; others did not respond immediately.