Elections 2019: EC social media cell cracks down on poll code violators

EC is probing Congress's Sanjay Nirupam after a Facebook content shows him distributing items to people with disabilities

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The social media monitoring cell of the Election Commission has cracked down on violators of the model code of conduct. The cell has registered an FIR against a member of a political party, while investigation is underway against two people, including Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam.

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The cell spotted a Facebook content in which Nirupam, who is contesting from Mumbai North West, is seen distributing certain items to people with disability. The committee in-charge of reviewing the alleged model code of conduct violations is probing the content. It is also investigating if a Facebook post by a Jan Adhikar Party Maharashtra member violated the poll code.

A fourth complaint was against Urmila Matondkar, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket from North Mumbai constituency. She has been given a clean chit.

An official from the Mumbai collector's office said, "We have registered 51 cases in South Mumbai constituency and 10 in South Central constituency of paid news across all platforms, including on social media."

The official said the EC will ensure that candidates' expense on social media campaigning comes from the limit set for election expenditure. Candidates of Lok Sabha polls can spend up to Rs 70 lakh.

The EC has also received several complaints on its C-Vigil app and majority have already been resolved. The poll body had received about 134 complaints, which were mainly about banners and posters. The BMC, on being informed by the returning officers of respective constituencies, removed the posters and banners. The suburban collector officials also received over 255 complaints. A senior official with the suburban collector's office said, "The cases were mainly before the candidates filed their nominations."

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Also Read: EC initiates steps to take down trailers of Mamata Banerjee biopic from internet sites

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