Jaipur, March 26 – Rajasthan Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Praveen Gupta, said on Tuesday that 360 degree efforts are being made by the State Election Department for monitoring “fake news and hate speech to conduct fair and transparent elections in the state”.
The Election Department is keeping a close eye on the information related to the election process, including electronic voting machines, law and order, voter list and voting on social media, he added.
“The committees formed at the state and district level and the police department are constantly keeping an eye on the election process. As nodal officers of these committees, officials of the Information and Public Relations Department are continuously monitoring the activities on social media,” he said.
CEO Gupta added that as per the instructions received from the Election Commission of India, the State Election Department has prepared a quick response management plan to control fake news, wrong and misleading information on social media.
Under this plan, a three-member committee is working in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer to send misleading information to the Election Commission of India, he said.
“This committee keeps a vigil on the information related to elections at the state level. With the help of the social media and fact check team of the Information and Public Relations Department, the information broadcasted and published on social media, news channels, newspapers, FM and other sources is checked 24 hours a day and requisite action is taken,” he added.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that if these teams monitoring at the state level receive any suspicious information on social media, then its fact check is done from the concerned districts.
“If this information is found to be incorrect or misleading, it is sent to the Election Commission of India with a clickable link within three to four hours for its removal or further action. To make this process more effective and quick, a WhatsApp group of the state has also been formed.”
This group includes nodal officers and their team members of the committees formed for fact-checking at the district and state level, who take immediate action on such news, CEO Gupta added.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that in coordination with the District Information and Public Relations Officer in all the districts, the Social Media and Fact Check team closely analyses the information broadcast and published on district level social media platforms, local news channels, local newspapers and other sources and present it to the state level committee for action as per requirement.
He added that the State Election Department has made innovations to curb fake news, wrong and misleading information being spread on social media.
Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, joint efforts are being made by the State Election Department and the police for fact-checking.
Nearly 80 police officers have been appointed across the state for monitoring up to the local level.
At the state level, Inspector General of Police Sharat Kaviraj has been appointed as the nodal officer.
Additional Superintendent of Police-level officers have been made nodal officers in the districts, who will take action in cases of spreading fake news according to the Indian Penal Code and decision of the courts.
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