Gujarat HC order reserved on telecom company's SMS quiz contest

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court on Friday reserved its decision on a petition claiming that a question on who is BJP's prime ministerial candidate in its quiz contest conducted through SMSs in Gujarati language by telecom company Vodafone was an attempt to influence electorates during the time of elections.

Petitioner Nishant Varma had filed the petition alleging the telecom company of aiding the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi through such mass public SMS distribution methods, and by distributing prize money of Rs 10 lakh when the code of conduct is enforced by the Election Commission of India.

The ECI filed an affidavit in the high court saying that the telecom giant has been warned not to repeat such question pertaining to politician or political party in future. It has also asked the company to remove all details pertaining to personalities that might influence a voter.

The nodal officers of ECI provided details of all SMSs on questions asked during the quiz contest, but the question in dispute was missing from the list.

Petitioner's lawyer contended that the ECI had told Varma on March 21 that actions were being taken against the company, but the communications revealed that it was a false reply. In fact, the election officials got into action only after the petition was filed in the high court.