The Election Commission said on Saturday that it is not right to share CCTV footage of webcasting of voting centers. This will make it easier to identify voters, groups. Both voters and non -votes may be victims of pressure, discrimination and threats of anti -social elements.
The Commission said- CCTV footage public will be violated by legal provisions of the Representation of the People Act and the directions of the Supreme Court. The Commission’s response has come on the demand to share CCTV footage on the claim of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi being rigged in the Maharashtra assembly elections in the Lok Sabha.
Giving the example, the Commission said- If a particular political party gets less votes at a particular booth, then it will be able to identify very easily through CCTV footage of who voted for them and who did not. After this, those who do not vote can be harassed.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, Rahul Gandhi wrote in his X post- Voter List? Machine-Readable Format will not be given. CCTV footage? The law changed and hidden. Election photo-video? Now we will erase not 1 year, in 45 days. Which required the answer – the same evidence is erasing. It is clearly visible- match is fixed, and fixed elections are poison for democracy.
Confusion arose among voters
In fact, the Election Commission has decided that now photos, CCTV footage, webcasting and video recording taken during the elections will be preserved for only 45 days. After this all the data will be deleted.
The EC has directed the Chief Election Officers of all the states on May 30 that if the election results in a constituency are not challenged in the court, then all these data should be destroyed after 45 days.
The decision has been taken to prevent the misuse of footage and misleading information being spread on social media. The EC says that recently some non-tailors tried to distort the election video and spread the wrong neoperative, causing confusion among the voters.
The Congress has opposed this rule of the Commission. The party said that earlier this data was kept safe for one year, so that it could be investigated anytime in the democratic system. This rule of the Commission is completely against democracy. It should be withdrawn immediately.
Commission said- footage was used for wrong nectar
Earlier, on 20 December 2024, the Central Government changed the election rules to stop the polling station from making the CCTV, webcasting and video recording of candidates public.
The Election Commission said that there is no legal provision for recording of election stages like voting and counting. This work is done for internal surveillance and transparency, but these recording has also been used for wrong erections. Therefore, there is no justification for keeping them for a long time.
Till now the recordings related to the election were handled for one year, so that there could be a legal investigation if needed.
