The Election Commission of India finds itself on the wrong side of questions being raised about its impartiality and also concerns over the security of voter data. It has come to light the poll body hired the services of companies perceived to be close to the ruling BJP to manage its social media accounts.
According to information provided by the Election Commission in response to a query made by transparency activist Neeraj Sharma under the Right to Information Act, the body hired the services of an agency named TSD Corporation Ltd to manage its Twitter account at a cost of Rs 15,22,908 per month. The same company handled the Twitter and Instagram accounts of the ECI for the Lok Sabha election from March 19 to May 31 at a cost of Rs 36,84,454 for the duration. The hiring of TSD Corp was done through state-owned NFDC Ltd.
Also, the Election Commission said in the reply that an expert outsourced agency, ADG Online Solution Pvt Ltd, has been hired through the state-owned Broadcast Engineering Consultant of India at a total cost of Rs 2,35,803, including BECIL Service Charge and taxes for four persons per month to maintain the poll body's Facebook account.
Sharma had sought information on the name, designation, official address of admin or operator of official Twitter and Facebook accounts of the Commission. The application was made on May 23, 2019, shortly after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha election. The response was furnished by the Commission on June 21, 2019.
The revelations were recently highlighted by RTI activist Saket Gokhale, who in a series of tweets, put out information on these agencies working for both the BJP, the Modi government and the EC.
“It's now clear that the Election Commission of India itself authorised Modi-govt bodies to appoint its social media agency for the Lok Sabha Elections,” Gokhale tweeted. He asked why the Election Commission had not chosen agencies independently, but gave the task to government-owned bodies to carry out.
At the culmination of the Election Commission campaign, the TSD Corp. put up pictures of employees celebrating the conclusion of the campaign and also posted a letter of commendation from the Commission.
What has raised eyebrows is the perceived proximity of these two companies to the ruling establishment. The client list of TSD Corp includes the who's who of leaders of the BJP and ministers from the Modi government. Among the clients are Prime Minister Narendra Modi; former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje; former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis; Union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Dharmendra Pradhan; BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy and NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. Also among its clients are former president Pranab Mukherjee, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and businessperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. The company proclaims on its website that its USP is “working closely with PMO or Prime Minister's Office”.
It has been an agency for the Modi government for several ministries, including defence and e-governance. In 2016, it was empanelled by the NIC, which handles all online services for Modi government ministries.
Gokhale also wrote that ADG Online founder Deepa Sayal's book revealed that the agency even consulted the ECI on formulating policies on data breach concerns like “Cambridge Analytica”. It also handled Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Deepotsav event in 2019, when five lakh lamps were lit in Ayodhya.
“Why is the ECI hiring agencies that handle BJP accounts & election campaigning? Where is the proof that no data is being leaked?” he tweeted.
THE WEEK has sought a response from the Election Commission regarding the hiring of TSD Corp and ADG Online Solution. The poll body's reaction is awaited.
Gokhale had earlier claimed in a series of tweets that the Commission had hired the services of a Mumbai-based social media agency, with close links to the BJP, for its voter awareness campaign in the metropolis. “Election Commission of India literally hired the BJP IT Cell for handling their social media in Maharashtra in the run-up to the 2019 State Assembly Elections,” he tweeted.
The voter awareness campaign in Mumbai was handled by a digital advertising, marketing, social media agency called Social Central, which, Gokhale pointed out, was owned by Devang Dave, national convenor of IT and social media for BJP's youth wing.
Responding to the claims, Sheyphali Saran, spokesperson for the Election Commission, said the poll body has sought a detailed factual report in this matter from CEO Maharashtra with respect to alleged locale of the incidence immediately.
The CEO Maharashtra tweeted to say it is misleading and incorrect to suggest that the office of chief electoral officer has engaged any agency on political considerations. “As per standard practice, electoral awareness campaign is launched through an agency engaged by the information and public relations department (DGIPR), Government of Maharashtra,” it said.
Devang Dave, meanwhile, tweeted, “We do not earn our bread and butter by doing any kind of ‘Dalali’ but by Hardwork. The work assigned by Election Commission to Signpost was after following due process. There is no illegality whatsoever. Is it also forbidden for political activists to make an honest living?” He added, “ECI and the Industry has also appreciated the work done Am I Not allowed professional engagements just because I support an ideology, a certain people doesn’t agree with? Or is targeting people based on their ideological leanings the new thing to vent out frustration?”
Gokhale, meanwhile, has complained to the police about being threatened by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and has been provided security. He said every effort is being made by the Modi government to stall the investigation of the Election Commission and bury it. “And this is because it wasn't just BJP handling ECI's social media – it's because crucial voter data might have been transferred from ECI to the BJP. This was electoral fraud,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sharma's RTI query had also sought information on who in the Commission had instructed that an OpIndia article on EVMs being fool-proof be put up on the Election Commission's official Twitter and Facebook accounts on May 22, 2019, and also who gave instructions for removing the write-up subsequently. OpIndia is perceived as a pro-BJP, pro-Modi government news portal.
The Election Commission declined information on the OpIndia article, saying it is a team responsibility of the Commission's officers, including the hired agency.
Replying to Sharma's first appeal regarding the query, the Election Commission said, “Since many false information and fake news regarding EVM were going viral during the Lok Sabha elections, the Commission, in order to build trust and confidence amongst voters, shared creative stories and videos on authenticity and transparency of EVM.”