Disinformation Surge: Cross-Border Efforts to Disrupt Indian Elections
Foreign interference in elections is not new, but it is evolving. It also reflects changes in technology: the evolution of the digital environment – including alternative social media platforms and artificial intelligence – offers foreign actors new ways of targeting individuals and organizations.
On similar terms, we will unroll how our country’s neighbourhood has been working hard to push false and hateful content. Their motive: To disrupt India’s democratic process through targeted disinformation campaigns.
Our investigation uncovers a clear pattern of cross-border accounts focused on spreading hate and lies. The pattern in which this trend was carried out by the several accounts was easily identifiable.
In this case, although the Indian elections are still in their ongoing phase, the poorly executed campaign was enough to get exposed as a disinformation network.
How cross-border influence was adopted?
The easiest way to influence the voters is through social media in today’s world. Thus, Pakistani accounts started to build a narrative around the elections as early as PM Modi’s visit to Kashmir in March 2024.
Part 1: As early as possible
Soon after PM Modi’s Kashmir visit was announced for the march, Pakistan’s propaganda accounts found a new task to flood the internet with misleading news. Additionally, hashtags were also utilized aiming to maximize the reach of malicious narratives.
HASHTAG GAME: Pak accounts employed multiple hashtags to amplify the misleading shutdown narrative. A consistent theme observed in their claims was the involvement of APHC (All Parties Hurriyet Conference), which consistently advocated for shutdowns during significant events in Kashmir.
FAKE NEWS:
Claim: Complete shutdown Observed in Kashmir on PM Modi’s Visit Day
Fact: Videos surfaced showing a sizable gathering of Kashmiri people attending PM Modi’s speech.
ANALYSING THE DATA:
The data analysis shows these hashtags gained momentum from March 1st when PM Modi’s visit was announced and reached a peak by March 4th. The word cloud indicates the maximum usage of words like IIOJK, Shutdown, Jamat-e-Islami, and APHC with the claims.
WHO GAVE CREDIBILITY TO THE CLAIMS? Pakistan Media
These misleading claims were given credibility by Pakistani media but who acts as a Bad source of such claims? None other than Kashmir Media Service. DFRAC has a detailed report on Kashmiri media service acting as a bad mouthpiece of information which you can read here.
REPEATED PROPAGANDISTS
We found some accounts that have repeatedly spread propaganda about Kashmir during major Kashmir events. In our previous findings as well, the DFRAC team has found them as repeated propagandists.
As the ground was laid for the false narratives, now comes the Election season in India
Part 2: Cross-border misinformation begins during Election Season
Indian Elections conduction was announced from 19th April to June 1, in a marathon of seven-phase exercise. Soon after the announcement, the Pak accounts were activated to spread Fake news about Indian elections and further to push them into Indian circles.
False News 1:
Claim: Hamid Mir, a Pak-based Journalist shared a video of PM Modi’s recent speech and claimed: “Modi, while addressing a rally, not only called Indian Muslims as intruders but also insulted them for being of Arab descent”.
Fact: PM Modi had alluded to the Urban Naxals (a group of far-left radical communists, supportive of Maoist political sentiment and ideology) in his speech, not Arabs.
False News 2:
Claim: “Indian army soldiers were forced to vote for BJP and Modi. Those who disagreed were immediately transferred to the Agniveer scheme with no pension benefits. The truth behind the world’s largest democracy”
Fact: The video is from 2019, soldiers heading towards a polling station in Jabalpur, MP to cast their vote on April 29, 2019, where unidentified miscreants tried to snatch the voter IDs of soldiers & family members. Additionally, a complaint was filed for obstructing the army voters and maligning the image of the Indian Army.
False News 3:
Claim: More than 78% of the Kashmiris did not cast their vote during India’s general election in 2024. Thus, low voter turnout was claimed for 1st and 2nd phase of voting in Kashmir.
Fact: Phase 1 accounted for 68.27% and Phase 2 saw 67.22% voting turnout. The Kathua (SC) Assembly segment recorded the highest 75.44 percent polling.
False News 4:
Claim: An Arabic user claimed that why Indian Muslims do not learn from the Palestinian conflict and it can be replicated in the light of political geography, which is almost similar to the geopolitical geography of Palestine. Furthermore, he has also asserted that with the onset of Indian elections, Muslims were marginalized and excluded from the right to vote, just because of an election farce under a racist Hindu government.
Fact: According to the Constitution of India, under Article 326, all Indian citizens have been given the right to vote in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies. Also, Article 325 of the Constitution guarantees that no citizen will be discriminated against based on religion, race, caste, sex, or any of them when included in the Parliament or the Legislative Assembly of the States.
[PS. Apart from this, we also found that Abdul Rahman(the same user) has incited people towards Jihad by comparing Indian Muslims with Palestine in a post]
False News 5:
Four people were killed in protests against rising living costs in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which ended on May 14 after organizers accepted a government offer of financial aid. Amidst this, Pak Journo tried hard to show the presence of a huge rally in the protests.
Claim: sharing the video users claimed that the video is from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and wrote “A huge rally in Azad Kashmir”
Fact: The video is from the rally of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi in the Saharanpur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, India.
False News 6:
Claim: Kashmiri people rejected the election, demanded freedom & rejected polling marked by increased deployment of Indian troops under the pretext of security.
They said this election is a futile exercise for Kashmiris. The Indian parliamentary election in the Baramulla constituency is marked by increased deployment of Indian troops in occupied Jammu and Kashmir under the pretext of security.
Fact: The Kashmir Valley pushed the polling percentage to 59% by 5 p.m. on May 20, breaking the previous record of 46.65% in 1996. Furthermore, the ECI has considered the requests made by the State CEOs and decided to deploy a maximum of around 3,400 companies of the CAPFs in all States and Union Territories in a phased manner to ensure free, fair, and peaceful elections.
False News 7:
Claim: According to Kashmir Media Service, observers argue that no election in Kashmir can be free and fair in the presence of nearly one million soldiers. Critics claim that the so-called elections are essentially a military operation and a futile exercise for Kashmiris.
Fact: a total of 3.4 lakh central security personnel will be deployed across the country by the Election Commission of India for free and fair elections, with which the maximum number of security personnel will be deployed in West Bengal. If we talk in numbers, 92000 CAPF personnel can be deployed in West Bengal. 63500 personnel will be deployed in terror-affected Jammu and Kashmir and At least 360 companies may be deployed in Naxal-affected Chhattisgarh.
Part 3: Repeated Offenders
The cross-border misinformation not only limits itself to fake news but also develops the hateful narrative around Kashmir.
Abdul Hameed Lone
Abdul Hameed Lone is one of the officials of the JK Self Determination Movement International, which security services claim to be a front for Pakistan’s ISI. Furthermore, he is also associated with Friends of Kashmir who is a supporter of the Khalistan Movement.
In Indian elections as well, he had his say. He organized a Twitter space on “Indian So-called election in Occupied Kashmir- Balkanisation of India”. The discussions focused on Kashmir not being part of India, and calling Indian elections a sham. But unfortunately, the increased voter turnout registered from Kashmir in the Indian elections might be painful for him to see.
Repeated Propagandists
The accounts that started the fake election narrative during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit also continued to spread false news during the election season.
A fake claim was peddled by Pak accounts surrounding the visit of Late Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi to Pakistan. The users claimed that the Iranian President said: Kashmir and Gaza are the eternal issue of Iran and Pakistan and we will take it with full force. However, in our fact check we found the statement as Fake. According to media reports, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif raised the issue of Kashmir in front of the Iranian President apart from Palestine. However, the Iranian President did not express any views on the Kashmir issue, he only talked about Palestine in his statement. At the same time, our team also watched a live streaming of media organization GTV NETWORK HD, in which there was a joint press conference of Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi. In this press conference, it can be seen that Shahbaz mentioned Kashmir in front of Raisi, but the Iranian President did not mention Kashmir in his address.
But the repeated offender of hate speech, GumNaam Pk account, countered the fact check as false.
Part 4: Bangladesh Journalist and BNP aide Mushfiqul Rehman meddling in India’s internal matters
The matter:
On March 27, during a State Department briefing, Bangladeshi journalist Mushfiqul Fazal (Ansarey) questioned spokesperson Matthew Miller about India’s response to the U.S. comments on the arrest of Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the freezing of the Indian National Congress’s bank accounts before the Lok Sabha polls. Miller reiterated the U.S. stance on encouraging fair and transparent legal processes while refraining from discussing private diplomatic exchanges. Fazal also raised the issue with UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric on March 28, asking about the political unrest in India and the alleged crackdown on the opposition. Dujarric expressed the UN’s hope that political and civil rights would be protected during India’s elections, ensuring a free and fair voting atmosphere. India’s government has protested against Miller’s remarks for the second time.
His poking into India’s domestic issues and repeatedly extracting answers from the State Department and the United Nations shows his interest to interfere in Indian elections.
Mushfiqul Ansarey and his affiliations
Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, based in the United States, is a controversial figure linked to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), an ultra-Islamist party with connections to Al Qaeda. Ansarey has played a significant role in spreading disinformation against Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League.
Over the past few years, Ansarey has come under scrutiny for using press accreditation from the White House, the State Department, and the United Nations to disseminate disinformation. Recently, Bangladesh’s Foreign minister also made a statement, “There’s someone there who used to work for Khaleda Zia’s press wing. He is paid by BNP. He asks questions purposefully to try and get negative answers about Bangladesh. He asks questions intentionally,” the minister said. He was referring to Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey.
Ansarey’s political ascent within the BNP can be attributed to his close ties with Tarique Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, facilitated by Harris Chowdhury, a key BNP figure. Moreover, the Bangladeshi government took legal action against him under the Digital Security Act, alongside France-based activist Dr. Pinaki Bhattacharya on the charges of maligning the image of the country.
Ansarey’s influence extends to several organizations he runs from Washington, D.C., including ‘South Asia Perspectives,’ ‘Right to Freedom,’ and ‘Just News.’ These entities are reportedly funded by Tarique Rahman and employ former diplomats Milam and Danilowicz as BNP agents without proper registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), violating U.S. laws. Ansarey’s press accreditation applications falsely claimed that ‘Just News’ is based in Bangladesh, although it operates from the U.S. and serves BNP’s interests.
Conclusion
The report paints a vivid picture of the foreign interference in Indian elections, showing how digital platforms were flooded with hateful content against Indian Elections. Pakistani accounts kicked off a misinformation campaign after PM Modi’s visit to Kashmir in March 2024, using hashtags and fake news to stir the pot and create misleading narratives. Their goal? To incite confusion, hate, and violence among Indian citizens, especially targeting the election process.
As the Indian election season heated up from April 19 to June 1, 2024, the disinformation campaign went full throttle. Claims about PM Modi’s speeches, the Indian Army’s voting practices, and voter turnout in Kashmir were twisted to undermine the electoral process. Pakistani media and serial offenders played a pivotal role in giving these falsehoods a veneer of credibility.
Moreover, individuals like Abdul Hameed Lone and Bangladeshi journalist Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey threw their hats into the ring, spreading disinformation and meddling in India’s internal affairs. Their antics reveal a concerted effort to throw a wrench in India’s democratic works by exploiting social media and international platforms.
