Stop ‘Viksit Bharat’ WhatsApp promos: Poll panel to govt

New Delhi, March 21

The Election Commission today told the IT Ministry to ensure WhatsApp messages promoting the Centre’s “Viksit Bharat” campaign were stopped from being delivered to mobile phones of customers across the country as the election code was in force.

Seeking a compliance report from the ministry, the EC said it had been receiving complaints regarding these messages still reaching people despite the poll code being in place since March 16.

In a letter to the IT Secretary, the EC said that despite its directions, these messages were being received by people. The IT Ministry claimed it was happening due to system architecture and network limitations, which may have led to delayed delivery. The messages had flooded mobile phones of users not only in India, but even in Europe and the US, causing a furore on social media. Some users sought to know how did Indian Government gain access to phone database abroad.