Chennai, Apr 22 (PTI) A formal complaint was lodged with the EC on Wednesday seeking action against Vijay-led TVK for an alleged attempt to carry out online political campaign and also removal of the content from social media platforms.
The complainants from Chennai: L Devasagayam and P Adikesavan, have sought the Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik, to invoke appropriate laws and ensure protection of electoral secrecy and also prevent illegal activities during the polls on April 23.
In separate complaints, they claimed that the TVK was planning to carry out a large-scale online political campaign on April 22 during the “silent period” enforced by the Election Commission of India.
The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam was planning to covertly film votes cast in their favour and circulate those videos on Facebook, Instagram, and X, with the intention of creating a perception of mass support, intimidate rival voters, and amplify this narrative using coordinated online campaigns including bot networks, they claimed.
Such activities were a direct threat to the secrecy of the ballot, which is a fundamental principle of free and fair elections, it was submitted.
Adikesavan said similar illegal videos of voting were clandestinely recorded and circulated on social media during the Puducherry Legislative Assembly elections.
“The recurrence of this modus operandi in Tamil Nadu, which has a far larger electorate, would cause irreparable damage to the secrecy of the ballot and the credibility of the electoral process,” he said in the complaint.
Further, he said Facebook, Instagram, and X are ‘significant social media intermediaries’ and were bound by Rule 2(1)(v) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021).
Hence, the Election Commission of India should direct the Cyber Crime Wing of the police to monitor all major social media platforms in real time on the poll day and take down the content, he pleaded while demanding action on the TVK. PTI JSP JSP ROH
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.