New Delhi: The Election Commission on Tuesday issued a notice to the Aam Admi Party (AAP) over alleged disparaging, insulting and defamatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media.
In a statement, the poll panel said it received a complaint on November 10 from the BJP regarding X (formerly Twitter) posts. The saffron party has alleged that the posts allegedly portrayed PM Modi in a ‘disparaging, insulting and defamatory’ manner with ‘scurrilous and malicious intent’.
In a similar incident, acting on a complaint made by the BJP that Ms Gandhi had made “false” and “unverified” statements against Prime Minister Modi at an election rally in Madhya Pradesh recently, the poll panel asked her to explain her statement by 8 pm on Thursday.
In its representation to the Election Commission, the BJP had accused Priyanka Gandhi of making a “baseless and false” claim that the Narendra Modi government had privatised public sector undertakings.
The BJP has alleged that the tweets, which have since been deleted, portrayed PM Modi in a “negative light” and made “false and unsubstantiated” allegations against him. The party has also alleged that the tweets were posted with “scurrilous and malicious intent” to damage PM Modi’s reputation.
The AAP has denied the allegations and said that the tweets were simply a “critique” of PM Modi’s policies. The party has also said that the tweets were not intended to be “personal attacks” on PM Modi.
Meanwhile, it wrote on X, “Mr. Modi, Your Union Minister’s son is openly extorting crores, Now why is your CBI-ED turning a blind eye?”.
The ECI has asked the AAP to respond to the notice within 72 hours. If the AAP fails to respond satisfactorily, the ECI may take action against the party, including issuing a warning or even banning the party from campaigning in the upcoming elections.
The ECI’s notice to the AAP is a reminder that political parties must be careful about what they post on social media during election campaigns. The ECI has strict guidelines in place to prevent political parties from using social media to spread misinformation, hate speech, or defamatory content.
The ECI’s notice is also a sign that the poll body is taking the issue of social media disinformation seriously. The ECI has been warning political parties against using social media to spread fake news and misinformation in the run-up to elections. The ECI has also been working with social media platforms to crack down on fake news and misinformation.