Action, Documentation and a vile ad

BarandBench reports that the vile BJP Jharkhand ad has been taken down. It also references a letter (pdf link) from the Election Commission of India, to the Chief Electoral Officer, Jharkhand.

Among other things, it says:

It is therefore, directed to take immediate action as per existing laws and procedures and thereafter direct the concerned social media platforms, through the authority designated in the State of Jharkhand under section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act to take down the referred posts immediately.

Essentially, asking the CEO to issue takedown orders for the ad, and social media platforms will have to comply because due diligence requirements have been invoked. The question I have is if this will be limited to the BJP’s use of the ad, or even attempts to document it - like Jawahar Sircar did (tweet link)? Will the CEOs directions account for this difference? Will social media platforms interpret these uses differently? Or will these attempts be taken down too? And, what of those that have further quoted Mr. Sircar — will their attempts to document this terrible ad also invite action?

Let’s see what happens.

The letter also urges action against the state unit of the BJP. We’ll see if any meaningful action is taken.

I remain aghast that such an ad was made again (similarly despicable ads were made during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections), and that there are people justifying it.