The chief electoral officer of Telangana, Rajat Kumar has said on Sunday that all the social media posts by political outfits and their affiliations will be monitored by Election Commission to keep a check on any poll code violation ahead of assembly election in the state.
“Social media posts of political parties and groups in poll-bound Telangana will come under the Election Commission’s scanner to check for any objectionable content under the model code of conduct”, said Kumar.
An agency had been appointed in Telangana to help the chief electoral officer on social media issues and the EC at the national and the state level. It is also in touch with companies such as Google and Facebook, which have assured cooperation in cases of violation of the model code of conduct (MCC).
“We are working out the matrix right now on how to control social media (content violative of MCC). We will put some keywords which indicate a violation of MCC, an appeal or an offer of money with catchphrases. We will scan through various websites”, Mr. Kumar told PTI.
Director General of Police M. Mahendra Reddy has also offered help of the Cyber wing in taking action in cases of violation of the code. “The source will be identified and action will be taken against him under the relevant sections of IPC and Cybercrimes also,” he said. Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said they will keep an eye on bulk messaging sent through social media or the traditional way with any ill intention.
The guidelines for social media are supposedly the exact same as that of print and electronic media. Besides surveillance, a Facebook page has been created under the name Chief Electoral officer Telangana to update news and initiatives by the EC to reach out to voters. The page has already reached over 9.70 lakh views as of October 11, Kumar said. He further said that around 90 percent of followers are less than 34 years of age and the majority of them are below 24.
Assembly Elections are going to be conducted on December 7.