Viral Claim About Election Commissioner’s Decision Regarding Secretariat Staff In Political Campaigns Is False

As the country prepares for the general elections in 2024, Indians are looking forward to casting their ballots for the 18th Lok Sabha as well as state assembly elections in several states. There would be seven stages to the election process, starting on April 19, 2024, and ending on June 4, 2024, with vote tallying.

A claim has gone viral in the middle of this. Social media users have taken to sharing a claim.
Claim: “Decision of the Election Commissioner

If you see any secretariat staff volunteers participating in political campaigns, immediately take photos or videos and mention the volunteer’s name and city to AP CEO (96766 92888).”

Fact Check

We verified the claim by checking the official account Of the Chief Electoral Officer, Andra Pradesh. We found a post dated 21 March 2024. In the post, they’ve verified that the viral claim is Fake with the caption “FAKE NEWS ALERT”.

Also, we checked the comment section where they have asked to use the cVIGIL App to report any violations. Contacting the number through WhatsApp is fake news.

Furthermore, we also cross-checked the claim by going through the recent Press conference by CEC Rajiv Kumar and no such announcements were made.

Conclusion

Thus, from the fact check it is clear that the viral claim is Fake. No such announcements have been made by the Election Commission of India.