Mumbai: The campaigning deadline may be over, but leaders continued to promote their political parties on social media on Sunday. Congress president Rahul Gandhi posted a tweet in Marathi assuring slum dwellers and tenants in Mumbai that they would get homes of their own if his party came to power after the Lok Sabha polls. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis too posted links of his interviews with television channels.
In a tweet in Marathi, Mr Gandhi said that he had backed the proposal of his party colleagues that slum dwellers and tenants be given houses with a minimum area of 500 square feet. “I assure Mumbaikars that if the Congress is voted to power, slum dwellers and tenants will get homes of their own,” Gandhi’s tweet stated.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis too posted links of his interviews with various television channels on Twitter.
The Bombay high court has already directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to remove political advertisements on social media 48 hours prior to voting. The court also told the ECI to consider recommendations made by the petitioner and the affidavit filed by Facebook, Twitter and Google before the Bombay high court.
The ECI had informed the Bombay high court that social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube couldn’t publish political advertisements without the approval of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC).
The ECI had also told the court that it would direct social media companies to remove unlawful and objectionable posts and information that is not verified by the MCMC from their websites.
In its affidavit, the Election Commission of India had also said it would “evolve a notification mechanism” for identifying and flagging such political ads that have not received its pre-verification, but have been posted on social media platforms.
Reacting to Mr Gandhi’s tweet, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said, “It is blatant violation of model code of conduct which does not allow any form of political campaigning even on social media after the campaigning is over. But the Congress as usual do not follow any regulations, and it is very unfortunate.”
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