Bihar elections: All India Radio tweets fake news about Congress, state Congress urges EC to take cognizance

The national public radio broadcaster, All India Radio (AIR) which was earlier known as and respected for being a credible news source, published a fake Twitter post about the main opposition party, Congress on Tuesday. However, it later deleted the tweet.

In the Twitter post that was published at 9.16 am on Tuesday, the AIR claimed that Bihar Congress has removed three Congress leaders from the select committee over irregularities. Surprisingly, the AIR did not share any link with the post. A search for the report on the AIR website failed to get any link or report.

The AIR Twitter post named Bihar Congress Chief Madan Mohan Jha, CLP leader Sadanand Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh as “expelled leaders”.

AICC  General Secretary Avinash Pande was quick to refute the “news” on Twitter. Denying any such expulsion, Pande who has been appointed as the head of the Congress screening committee for Bihar polls recently said that all three leaders mentioned by the AIR are respected members of the Congress party and they are still active.

“It is very unfortunate that a credible and responsible organization like AIR news has given out this misleading information without even verifying with the authorities at AICC,” he said.

Reacting to the fake news peddled by the national radio broadcaster Congress leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh expressed his shock over the issue. Saying that "I am not even part of the selection committee", Singh urged the Election Commission to take cognizance of the issue.

Talking to NH over the phone Singh said, “The AIR should investigate on whose behalf such fake news was spread. It will hamper the fair and free election.”

Madan Mohan Jha said this was part of propaganda started on behalf of the ruling NDA alliance. “Besides the AIR, some other outlets have also published this fake news. I demand action against those who were part of the propaganda,” said Jha over the phone.

The Congress president on Sunday had announced several key committees for the Bihar Assembly elections, with party general secretary Randeep Surjewala as the chairperson of the Election Management and Co-ordination Committee.

The 14-member election management and coordination panel includes senior leaders like Tariq Anwar, Shatrughan Sinha, Meira Kumar, Kirti Azad, Shakeel Ahmed and Sanjay Nirupam. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera will be heading the media coordination committee for the polls, with Prem Chand Mishra as the convener.

The three-phase polls in Bihar will be held on October 28, November 3 and November 7 and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.

Congress is contesting 70 of the 243 Assembly seats in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left parties.