Congress Demands Probe Into Alleged Use Of Israeli Firm In Indian Elections

After a recent report released by a consortium of journalists alleged that a team of Israeli contractors interfered in the Indian elections, along with 30 other elections held across the world, the Congress demanded a probe and asked the government to break its silence on the matter.

The Israeli team of contractors known as "Team Jorge" has been linked with a software to operate fake social media campaigns across countries, including India, a report by The Guardian said on Wednesday.  

Congress spokespersons Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate alleged that the data of Indians is being compromised. They drew similarities between "Team Jorge", the Israeli team of contractors, and the IT cell of the BJP in spreading misinformation and "fake news" in order to influence the country's electoral process.

"Fake news, fake accounts, hacking...These are some of the cyber weapons that Israeli cyber mafia use to influence election results in India. In such a situation, it is necessary to ask the question that who is taking their help in India?" the Congress said in a tweet.

Shrinate said this is not the first time that allegations of data theft have been levelled against the Narendra Modi government. ""One of the serious charges that this government faces is data theft and data manipulation to actually tamper with the electoral process. You saw what happened in Karnataka. This government is known to play with big data to its advantage. This is nothing but a murder of democracy," she alleged.

She further asserted that it is the Centre's job to respond to such an allegation by an international agency. "This impacts India's electoral process directly and there should be a probe," she said.

(With PTI inputs)