Poll panel to step up vigil to stop fake news, deepfakes, says CEO Meena

'Dist officials will keep a close watch on social media influencers'

Bengaluru: The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, has begun special exercises for voter inclusion and participation. In a conversation with DH’s Chiranjeevi Kulkarni, CEO Manoj Kumar Meena talks about the efforts to bring more voters to the booth and to the challenges posed by emerging technology.

Social Media has been playing a major role during elections. There are concerns that social media influencers are getting into informal agreements with candidates for promotion. 

First, candidates have to disclose any person they hire for canvassing. However, we agree that it is difficult to find out those who are hired informally. When we find a person soliciting votes for a particular candidate, our district electoral officers can check how much s/he is being paid. But it’s an emerging thing. Our system is evolving. If it comes to our notice, we will take action. Our primary concern is expense and the secondary one is those who are vitiating the atmosphere. 

Apart from fake news, deepfakes and doctored audio clips go viral on social media. Is there a plan to check circulation of such content, considering their impact on the polls?

The Home Department has already notified the officers who can order a media house to take down such content. Do we have the capacity to identify such content? That depends. If we get a complaint, it will be easy for us to act. We do have a system but technology stays ahead. So, we have the option to hire the qualified persons. As per the standard operating procedure, we have to do it as early as possible to prevent the effect of such content on the polls.

Combating hateful and divisive speeches has become a challenge. Is there a strategy to act against repeat offenders?

We are getting feeds from multiple sources. Apart from recording the events, we are also taking action based on information from newspapers, television channels and social media. We are scanning social media and TV at state as well as district level. Besides the ECI guidelines, the Representation of People Act is very clear on the matter. Anything which creates animosity between religions and castes will attract stern action.

NGOs have demanded that the commission should take suo motu action instead of waiting for complaint or direction from the top.

We take cognizance of issues before receiving complaints from NGOs or activists. For instance, three MPs (Tejasvi Surya, P C Mohan and Shobha Karandlaje) were detained and FIR registered before we received any complaint. The Election Commission had only asked for a report on a complaint against one MP (Shobha). Whether it is unauthorised assembly or hate speech, our action will follow automatically.

During the Assembly elections, a private agency (Chilume Trust) was accused of illegally collecting data. Have you taken any steps to prevent such incidents?

If anybody seeks personal details like EPIC number, caste, religion in the name of collecting public opinion, then the DEO is authorised to book a case. The case against Chilume Trust is proceeding as per the law. We are watching if a person or agency does it this time and will take action.

When it comes to turnout, constituencies in Bengaluru didn’t improve much in the 2019 polls with some even registering negative trends compared to 2014 numbers.

We have analysed the data of the 2014, 2019 as well as the 2021 elections. We found that 43 Assembly constituencies, mostly in urban areas, are below the state average. We have zeroed in on about 5,000 polling stations where the turnout is about 30 to 35%. We have sent out teams to these places to understand what is lacking from our side. Our strategy is to improve the assured minimum facility at voting booths. This time, we will generate QR code of the polling booth location and put it in the voter slip to help voters. Secondly, we will popularise the Chunavana App so that voters get to know the queue status and other information like the parking facility.

During every election, there are complaints that valid voters are left out of the rolls.

Our analysis shows that voters have not been left out. If you see the data, the number of voters has gone up from 5.10 crore in 2019 to 5.42 crore now. We are telling everybody to check their names in the voter roll. I request people not to wait till the last date. People who are turning 18 even up to March 31 are eligible to vote. We have received 50,000 advance applications from people who are turning 18 on that day. If you want to cast your vote in this poll, submit your forms 10 days prior to the last date of nomination.