EC orders government to cease sending "Viksit Bharat" WhatsApp messages

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology was directed by the Indian Election Commission to stop Viksit Bharat message distribution on WhatsApp right away. Quick delivery of a compliance report was requested from MeitY. Citizens kept receiving these communications even after the Model Code of Conduct and the General Elections of 2024 were announced.

The ministry had informed the Commission that the messages along with a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi were sent before the Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 16 with the announcement of Lok Sabha poll schedule.

"... due to system architecture and network limitations it is possible that some letters have a delayed delivery," the ministry said in a communication to the Commission.

The poll authority had received several complaints that such messages highlighting the government's initiatives were being delivered on citizens' phones despite the announcement of parliamentary elections 2024 and the MCC coming into force.

The Congress and the Trinamool Congress had raised objections to the message and requested the Election Commission to act against this "blatant violation" of the Model Code of Conduct.

According to an official statement, after examination of the complaint, the district media certification and monitoring committee found prima facie evidence of a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

The complaint was received through the cVIGIL mobile application of the poll panel