Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar’s vow to act against poll-code violations irrespective of the status of the star campaigner has been put to the test no sooner than he made it.

Many WhatsApp users in India and abroad have received a purported open letter by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday. The sender is a business account — a paid service to send messages in bulk — named “Viksit Bharat Sampark”.

The sender identifies itself as the “Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, Electronics Niketan, 6, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi – 110003”. The ministry’s website address — https://www.meity.gov.in — is also mentioned.

Viksit Bharat publicises the schemes and initiatives undertaken by the Centre. In October last year, the EC had asked the government not to carry out the proposed Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra in poll-bound states.

Clause VII(4) of the model code of conduct (MCC) states: “Issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer in the newspapers and other media and the misuse of official
mass media during the election period for partisan coverage of political news and publicity regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided.”

In the letter dated March 15 and addressed to “My dear family member”, Modi extols his government’s welfare schemes and achievements and concludes by seeking “ideas, suggestions and support” from the recipients.

UAE-based marketing consultant Anthony J. Permal shared a screenshot of the message on LinkedIn on Monday and wrote: “Breach of Privacy! Yesterday multiple nationalities in the UAE — including me, a Pakistani —received a ‘personal’ Whatsapp message from Indian PM Modi… How did the BJP and the Indian government get hold of our numbers? And how can it just blatantly spam non-Indians in the thousands?”

In the comments, several non-Indians claimed that they too had received the message, with some saying that they had given their numbers while applying for visas to visit India.

WhatsApp Business offers conversations — 24-hour message threads between its customers and receivers — in the marketing, utility and service categories. “Viksit Bharat Sampark” is categorised as a “Public and government service”. The rate for service conversations in India is 29.06 paise per conversation.

Government agencies — except law enforcement and security establishments — are permitted to use it. Political parties, entities that offer political campaign services and “exclusive government entities” are prohibited from using it.

Lawyer and observer trustee of Internet Freedom Foundation, Apar Gupta, tweeted: “How can we expect the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, to be enforced in citizen interest when the nodal ministry @GoI_MeitY sends unsolicited spam promoting the Prime Minister on your WhatsApp?”

The Telegraph has not yet received replies to the queries emailed to S. Krishnan, secretary in the electronics and information technology ministry, as well as election commissioners Rajiv Kumar, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu.

An EC spokesman declined to comment on a media WhatsApp group.