The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered X, formerly Twitter, to take down an animated video posted by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Karnataka unit. The video features caricatures of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, alleging that the party is diverting funds and resources away from SC/ST/OBC Hindus towards Muslims.
The video had garnered over 90 lakh views as of May 7 and had not yet been removed. The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee had complained on May 5 that the video violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), and Manoj Kumar Meena, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the State, subsequently ordered X to take the post down.
The same day, the Karnataka Cybercrime Division ordered X to take the post down, a move the ECI said was directed by Mr. Meena. “However, the post has not been taken down yet,” Anuj Chandak, a deputy director at the ECI, wrote. “Therefore, ‘X’ is directed to take down the post immediately,” Mr. Chandak wrote.
This video is one of three on this theme put out by the BJP recently. One other video posted by the Nizamabad, Telangana BJP candidate Arvind Dharmapuri on May 6 depicts the Congress leaders encouraging a Muslim getting on a boat and throwing SC/ST/OBC people out of the boat. The video remains on X and Mr. Dharmapuri’s post has racked up over 1,90,000 views.
The first such video was posted by the BJP’s national handle on Instagram, and the party took the post down even as the social media firm’s parent Meta was reviewing reports against it, an individual aware of the company’s deliberations said.
