The Indian National Congress has alleged that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) denied their request to send SMS messages to party workers in Maharashtra regarding a documentary exposing alleged irregularities in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections. The Congress claims that TRAI cited the content as being "related to protest" as the reason for rejecting the application.
According to the Congress, the party sought permission from TRAI to send SMS messages containing a link to a Marathi YouTube documentary titled, "How the MH 2024 election was stolen". Praveen Chakravarty, chairman of the Congress' data analytics department, shared a screenshot of the message from authorities informing about the rejection of the Congress application. He questioned whether TRAI's refusal represented "perfect synchronization between the Home Ministry, Election Commission, and telecom regulator to suppress" information regarding the alleged election fraud.
Manickam Tagore, a Congress whip in Lok Sabha, also criticized the decision, calling it "ridiculous" and suggesting that TRAI has become the IT cell of the BJP. He questioned who controls the "censorship chain," and implicated Amit Shah, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Gnaneshwar Kumar. Tagore further alleged a coordinated effort involving the Home Ministry's surveillance, the Railway/Telecom Ministry blocking communication, and the Election Commission remaining a "silent spectator". He claimed this "coordinated machine" aims to hide the truth of the alleged Maharashtra 2024 fraud.
The Congress party has framed TRAI's decision as a "telltale sign of guilt" regarding election fraud in Maharashtra, alleging coordinated efforts by various governmental bodies to suppress information. They claim that these actions, along with the Election Commission's alleged withholding of information in a Karnataka vote fraud case, point to a concerted effort to protect those responsible for election irregularities.
At the time of reporting, TRAI had not issued any immediate reaction to the claims made by the Congress party.
