The Election Commission of India (EC) has directed microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) to remove a post by Karnataka BJP, which featured an animation indicating alleged favouritism of Congress towards the Muslim community. In its direction, the EC said that the animation violated the extant legal framework and asked X to remove the video posted from the handle BJP4Karnataka.
The move comes after Congress also filed an FIR against the BJP. The EC directive to X also noted that earlier, the Chief Electoral Officer in Karnataka had asked X to remove the post, which the Elon Musk-owned microblogging site did not abide by.
An animation shows three eggs in a nest. The eggs are tagged SC, ST, and OBC. One more egg is added to the nest, representing Muslims. On hatching those eggs, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah are seen feeding only the Muslim bird, indicating favouritism towards a community, the FIR reads.
Karnataka Congress had filed a complaint to the Election Commission against BJP national president JP Nadda, social media in-charge Amit Malviya, and state chief BY Vijayendra for allegedly posting a video on social media aimed at “intimidating” members of Schedule Caste/ Schedule Tribe to not vote for Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress, in its complaint, further claimed that the intent of posting a video by the BJP on its official X handle appears to be to seek votes in Lok Sabha Elections by projecting the Congress party to favour the Muslim community.
A day before, the official X handle of BJP Karnataka posted an animated video in Kannada with the caption “Beware.. Beware.. Beware..!” The footage showed caricatures of Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah placing an egg with “Muslims” written on it in a nest along with three eggs marked as “SC, ST, and OBC.”
In April, the Karnataka Congress lodged an FIR against the BJP in the state after the latter posted a social media post titled ‘Congress Manifesto or Muslim League Manifesto’. The post shared by the BJP Karnataka said, “Congress Manifesto or Muslim League Manifesto? Hijab Enforcement in Educational Institutions. Wealth Distribution to Muslims. Special Reservations to Muslims. Freedom to Practice Personal Laws. Muslims to be Directly Appointed as Judges. Mandate to Public & Private entities to hire Muslims. & Many more such divisive agendas!”
