Maharashtra's ruling alliance spends sevenfold on political ads through shadow accounts
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In the lead-up to the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the ruling Mahayuti alliance has significantly outspent the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition on political advertisements through shadow accounts on social media, according to a recent report by civil society organisations.
The report highlights a stark difference in the amount spent by the two coalitions, with the Mahayuti alliance spending approximately seven times more than the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
The Mahayuti alliance, which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, has reportedly spent Rs 3.32 crore on shadow advertising between August 5 and November 2. In contrast, the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition made up of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction, and the Congress, spent just Rs 50.47 lakh during the same period.
The report, titled "Maharashtra's Shadow Politics," was published by several civil society bodies, including the Tech Justice Law Project, the Indian American Muslim Council, and others. It raises concerns over the use of shadow accounts to push political advertisements that evade the scrutiny of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
According to the report, political advertisements must be pre-certified by the ECI during the election period. Additionally, any election-related campaign by entities other than political parties or candidates requires written authorisation from the candidate concerned.
Despite these regulations, shadow accounts remain a common tool for bypassing official advertising channels. The report claims that the Mahayuti alliance operates at least fifty-six shadow pages, compared to just four managed by the Maha Vikas Aghadi. These pages have been used to run close to 33,000 ads for the ruling coalition, while the opposition alliance’s pages have posted fewer than 1,000 ads.
The breakdown of spending within the Mahayuti alliance shows that the BJP has spent the lion’s share, amounting to Rs 2.61 crore. The Shiv Sena faction led by Shinde has spent Rs 56.92 lakh, and the NCP has put out ads worth Rs 35.86 lakh.
The report claims that the BJP’s shadow accounts often feature content that is Islamophobic, fear-mongering, and filled with hate speech. Despite evidence that these ads violate Meta's content policies, the report asserts that Meta continues to promote these ads instead of removing them.
In contrast, the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s shadow accounts, according to the report, have not been linked to any hate speech or communal content. The shadow pages of the ruling coalition reportedly garner ten times more impressions than the official BJP pages, reinforcing the idea that shadow accounts allow political content to circulate without being traced back to the party.
The civil society bodies behind the report argue that these shadow campaigns not only flout election advertising rules but also undermine the integrity of the electoral process by enabling the spread of politically charged narratives that could influence voters in ways that are difficult to trace and regulate.