The Election Commission of India (ECI) today said it has sought a report from the Maharashtra Chief Election Officer regarding allegations that the poll body hired a firm reportedly linked to the BJP IT cell for its social media promotions in the run-up to the assembly elections held last year.
In a tweet, ECI Spokesperson Sheyphali Sharan said details have been sought from the Maharashtra Chief Election Officer (CEO) regarding these allegations.
“Regarding tweet of Mr Gokhale @SaketGokhale, Commission has sought detailed factual report in this matter from CEO Maharashtra with respect to alleged locale of the incidence immediately,” she said.
Sharan was responding to a series of tweets put out by Saket Gokhale, an RTI activist, who has levelled these allegations at the poll panel.
In his tweets, Saket Gokhale said the firm that was hired by the Election Commission to handle its social media accounts in the run-up to the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections was the same firm that was hired by the BJP. The firm is also owned by a BJP leader.
Gokhle pointed out that address of the social media advertisements posted by the Maharashtra Chief Election Officer was ‘202 Pressman House, Vile Parle, Mumbai’. He claimed this was the address of Signpost India, a government-empanelled agency with close ties to former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis.
“The address 202 Pressman House was also used by a digital agency called Social Central. This agency is owned by Devang Dave who is the national convener of IT and social media for BJP’s Youth Wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM),” Gokhale alleged in his tweets.
Shocking details:
Election Commission of India literally hired the BJP IT Cell for handling their social media in Maharashtra in the run-up to the 2019 State Assembly Elections.
Thread
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) July 23, 2020
Saket Gokhale further asked: “Why was the social media of the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra, being handled by a member of the BJP IT Cell?”
In the twitter thread, Gokhale also shared list of clients from the website of Social Central which included few government entities and the BJP.
Reacting to this, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant demanding an inquiry into the matter. “We demand an inquiry into this serious issue by an independent Election Commission panel. The EC is supposed to work independently. Here a company of a national office bearer of the BJP youth wing was instrumental in handling social media of CEO Maharashtra. What about EC data? Why was the firm’s background not checked?” he asked.
Meanwhile, when contacted by India Today TV, Devang Dave rubbished the allegations and said they are “completely baseless” and aimed to malign his reputation.
Meanwhile there has been no response from the BJP on these allegations so far.
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