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Journalism of Courage
The Election Commission Tuesday asked social media platform X to take down an animated video post by the BJP Karnataka handle that depicted the Congress appeasing Muslims at the cost of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
The EC’s nodal officer appointed under the Information Technology Act, 2000 wrote to X asking that the post be taken down “immediately”. The post was “violative of extant legal framework”, the EC wrote.
It added that an FIR had already been registered in the matter and the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer had written to X on May 5 directing the platform to take down the “objectionable post”. “However, the post has not been taken down yet,” the EC wrote.
The CEO, through the Cybercrime Division of Bengaluru Police, had written to X on May 5 asking for the post to be taken down “as it violates Model Code of Conduct enforced during the Lok Sabha elections 2024”. It cited Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which pertains to takedown requests by authorised agencies. The cybercrime division warned “non-compliance of which may attract legal action”.
Polling in Karnataka was completed on Tuesday in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
According to EC sources, the post was a violation of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which defines “corrupt practices” to include promotion of enmity between communities, castes and races. Sources said the EC took a serious note of the post not being removed despite a valid legal request by the Karnataka CEO’s office. As reported in The Indian Express on Tuesday, the Karnataka CEO’s office had been in touch with the social media platform, but the EC intervened since the post remained up for four days. As of 6pm, the post was still visible.
The post contained an animated video and the caption “beware… beware… beware..!” in Kannada. It showed a Rahul Gandhi character placing an egg labelled as “Muslims” within a nest with three eggs, which were smaller in size, labelled as “SC”, “ST” and “OBC”. After the eggs hatch, the character then proceeds to feed the “Muslim” hatchling with “funds”. The hatchling then grows and removes the other hatchlings out of the nest, with Rahul and a Siddaramiah character snickering.
The post comes in the wake of attacks on the Congress by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has in his campaign speeches accused the party of wanting to give Muslims reservation at the cost of SCs, STs and OBCs.
