Centre denies Congress charge, says TRAI never blocked 'vote chori' SMS drive

Government sources on Monday dismissed Congress’ charge that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had blocked its attempt to send messages about the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections being “stolen.”

According to officials, no such application was ever received by TRAI. They clarified that the regulator does not approve or reject individual SMS templates. Instead, the rejection message cited by the Congress came from its service provider, STPL, not from TRAI.

On Sunday, the Congress had claimed that TRAI rejected its application to circulate an SMS with a link to a YouTube documentary titled “How the MH 2024 election was stolen” to party cadre in Maharashtra.

'COORDINATED MOVE'

Chairman of the party’s data analytics department, Praveen Chakravarty, alleged that permission was denied on the grounds that it was “content related to protest.” He called it part of a “coordinated move” involving the Home Ministry, the Election Commission and telecom regulators to suppress information about alleged election fraud.

Chakravarty posted on X: “How is there such perfect synchronisation between Home Ministry, Election Commission & Telecom regulator to suppress? Does one need more telltale signs of guilt of Maharashtra election fraud than such coordinated moves by various arms of the government to suppress & hide information?”

He also shared a screenshot of the rejection message, claiming it came from TRAI.

PARTY LEADERS ESCALATE CHARGE

Congress whip in the Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore, echoed the allegation, calling the rejection “ridiculous.” He tagged Union ministers Amit Shah and Ashwini Vaishnaw in his post, asking: “Who controls this censorship chain?”

Tagore alleged that the rejection showed “one coordinated machine to hide the truth of Maharashtra 2024 fraud,” and accused the government of censorship. “Suppressing SMS won’t suppress truth. Blocking Congress workers won’t block democracy,” he wrote.

GOVERNMENT'S REBUTTAL

Officials, however, underlined that TRAI does not vet or reject SMS templates and stressed that the message was turned down by the service provider STPL. They rejected the allegation of censorship, saying the regulator had no role in the matter.

- Ends