Days after social activist Saket Gokhale alleged links between members of the former BJP government and a firm which was awarded a contract to handle social media for the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Maharashtra during 2019 Assembly polls, the latter has denied sending any report linking any political party, to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Mr Gokhale had raised objection over the company run by an office-bearer of the ruling party getting contract to run social media of the CEO, Maharashtra alleging conflict of interests. Congress too had demanded inquiry.
Following Mr Gokhale’s allegations, the ECI had sought a report from the CEO, Maharashtra on the issue. Earlier reports had claimed that the CEO’s office in the report to the ECI had said the company was hired by the Directorate General of Information and Public Relation (DGIPR), Maharashtra, which was under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
In a series of tweets, the CEO Maharashtra said: “It is categorically denied that this office has sent report to ECI saying any political party related IT company was appointed for social media campaign. This is totally false and misleading.”
It further tweeted, “This is to clarify that CEO Maharashtra had not communicated to ECI that DGIPR has assigned SVEEP campaign work to any IT Cell of a political party or M/s Socialcentral Solutions. The work was assigned to M/s Signpost India Pvt. Ltd. following laid down procedures."
The CEO Maharashtra further stated that M/s Signpost has clarified that they have no political connection or affiliation. “No data access was given to any agency as it was assigned only for making creatives and posting them on social media for general awareness purpose,” it said.
Interestingly, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha office-bearer Devang Dave whose name is allegedly associated with the companies had himself tweeted on July 24, accepting that Signpost was working for the CEO, Maharashtra.
