Cases against social media operators for ‘campaigns to malign Jharkhand CM’

Ranchi: Cases were registered against operators of two social media accounts on charges of running campaigns to malign the Chief Minister Hemanth Soren and that of Jharkhand, a senior officer said.

The FIRs were registered after Soren and the ruling JMM accused the BJP of running “shadow” campaigns to malign the image of the CM and the state.

“Two FIRs have been registered for campaigns against the CM’s and the state’s image,” the officer said on Saturday.

Soren had alleged that the saffron camp has been “spending crores of rupees on various social media platforms” and “created 95,000 WhatsApp groups” to campaign against the JMM-led coalition in the state.

“We have lodged two complaints against social media platforms for shadow campaigns, at Gonda and Ratu police stations in Ranchi,” JMM spokesperson Vinod Pandey told PTI.

The JMM had also taken up the matter with the Election Commission.

Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said that the commission has taken cognisance of the matter and a compliance report was sent in this connection.

Hitting out at the saffron party, Soren had claimed that “dictators may possess billions of rupees” but he believed it was “better to stick to principles rather than securing a win through unfair means”.

“I want to present an important report to you. Crores of rupees have been spent on Facebook advertisements by the BJP to damage my and the state’s image through a ‘shadow campaign’.

“In the last 30 days, advertisements worth Rs 72 lakh have been given from various social media accounts like ‘Jharkhand Chaupal’, ‘Ranchi Chaupal’. If you see the content of these pages, you will understand that their sole purpose is to tarnish my and the state’s image, spread religious frenzy and make people fight among themselves,” Soren alleged in a post on X.

The chief minister claimed that while the BJP “spent crores of rupees to tarnish his image”, he did “not spend a single rupee on any promotion which can be verified by visiting the ad library of any social media”.

The BJP, however, claimed that these allegations showed “Soren’s desperation and frustration”.

“Soren’s posts show his desperation and frustration. He has understood that he has lost the battle and is posting such remarks out of sheer hopelessness. The allegations are fabricated, false and beyond truth,” Senior BJP leader and former state president of the party, Deepak Prakash, said.