Haryana: Kaithal polling officer's ENCORE creds used to post

Published on: 07 Apr 2024 at 05:05 PM

Haryana: Kaithal polling officer’s ENCORE creds used to post derogatory posts; 5 suspended

Published by: PreetiMahajan

The Fact News Service

Kaithal, April 7

Five staffers at the State Election Commission office in Kaithal were suspended after they were found to be involved in the misuse of an Assistant Returning Officer’s (ARO) log-in credentials for the Election Commission’s ENCORE portal.

The incident, according to officials, took place on April 4 when an unauthorized individual or group gained access to the ENCORE portal using the user ID assigned to an ARO for the Kaithal assembly segment under the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency of Haryana.

The culprits then misused the access to post derogatory content on the portal.The Kaithal Deputy Commissioner took to its social media handle on April 5 to inform the public about the incident.

“An incident was reported on April 4, 2024, wherein the user ID of Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) Kaithal, Parliamentary Constituency (PC) Kurukshetra, was misused by hitherto unknown person/s to access the ENCORE portal, and make derogatory posts therein,” the Kaithal deputy commissioner posted on his X handle.

“Action, including suspension of 5 persons suspected to be involved in the incident and registration of FIR No. 0012 dated 5.4.2024 at Cyber Crime Police Station, Kaithal, has been taken. Besides this, an enquiry is underway to ascertain further details,” he added in his post.

The deputy commissioner assured swift action in light of the breach. Five individuals suspected to be involved in the incident were suspended, officials informed.

An FIR was filed at the Cyber Crime police station at Kaithal on Friday.Police said a probe is underway to gather further details in the case and identify those responsible.

The ENCORE portal is a platform used by the EC for managing election data and communication between officials.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, blowing the election campaign bugle loudly, reached Moga and Jalandhar, on Saturday, to meet Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers and volunteers and asked them to get ready for winning all 13 seats in Punjab in upcoming LS polls.

Bhagwant Mann thanked the AAP workers and volunteers for their love, trust and hard work and said that the fate of a party, state and the country is in the hands of the volunteers who work tirelessly. He talked in detail with the volunteers of the party about the Lok Sabha elections and said that the volunteers should get ready as the party will win all 13 seats in Punjab. He said that the AAP candidate from Faridkot is Karamjit Singh Anmol who came from a poor family but touched heights with his hard work. His life was full of struggles but he achieved success.

AAP’s national secretary and MP Rajya Sabha Dr Sandeep Pathak, AAP Punjab Working President Principal Budh Ram, Minister and Lok Sabha Candidate Gurmeet Meet Heyar, Minister and Lok Sabha Candidate Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Lok Sabha Candidate from Faridkot Karamjit Singh Anmol and Chairman (Mandi Board) Harchand Singh Barsat were also present in the meeting at Moga. In Jalandhar, apart from them, minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, minister Lalji Singh Bhullar, AAP candidate Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, minister Lalchand Kataruchakk, General Secretary Punjab Jagroop Singh Sekhwan, minister Anmol Gagan Maan, minister Balkar Singh, AAP candidate from Anandpur Sahib Malvinder Kang, AAP candidate from Fatehgarh Sahib Gurpreet Singh GP, minister Harbhajan Singh ETO, minister Bram Shanker Jimpa and other MLAs were also present.

Addressing the volunteers Mann welcomed the people of this revolutionary and sacred land who came to attend this meeting. He said that he said that he left Chandigarh at 10 AM but reached Moga at 2 PM because on the way at many places his convoy was stopped by the people to share their love, regard and blessings. He said that the people were so happy and in awe that a CM was stopping like this just to meet them. I stopped at 8 to 10 places and heard the same things from the people. They said that what we did in 2 years the parties did not in 70 years.

He added that today someone told him that 4 people got government jobs in his village without any recommendation or bribe. A person told me canal water reached his fields after 25 years. Another person told me his wheat crop is ready to harvest and it is the first season that he didn’t have to go to fields at night to water the crop. Farmers got sufficient electricity in day hours for irrigation. A person told me that when the first electricity bill came to zero he thought it would be for 2-4 months but since 600 units of free electricity he is getting zero electricity bills only. I met a milkman who said that earlier people used to settle their accounts after three-four months and suddenly they started paying him every month, and people told him that zero electricity bills have lightened their financial burdens.

Mann continued that people are getting ration at their homes, people are able to access government services like registry and documentation at their door steps. He said that we don’t have to pay anyone to hear the slogans like ‘Modi-Modi’, but we work in such a manner that people chant our slogans from their hearts. During the 2020 elections, Modi was doing a rally in Ramlila Ground and we were watching, I told Arvind Kejriwal to get ready to take oath, we will win because from the way the people were raising slogans it was clear that they will not vote for him, they had been brought on daily wages. The way Punjabis raise slogans tells in which direction the wind is blowing.

Bhagwant Mann said that the BJP got the misconception that if Kejriwal is put in jail, the Aam Aadmi Party will end, they do not know that Arvind Kejriwal is not the name of a person, Arvind Kejriwal is a thought. You can arrest a person and put him in jail but how can you imprison his idea? They don’t know that this party is in Punjab and Punjab is the land of rivers and rivers make their own paths. Our ancestors fought for freedom, we are the heirs of the martyrs. We are ones who can fight for our freedom then we can fight to save our democracy and constitution too. So, the BJP should not live under any misconception that they will imprison our leader and can stop us. Arvind Kejriwal made this party out of a movement. Arvind Kejriwal made people of common background leaders and chairman. Dynast politicians act as they have exclusive access to big posts and politics.

Mann said that the work started from Delhi and the same voice reached Punjab, today there are 92 MLAs in Punjab and out of 92, 80 were first time MLAs, all belonging to common families. The opposition parties are complaining about how the common people reached assembly. In Sultanpur Lodhi, a vegetable cart vendor was appointed as the chairman of the market committee and he found when the media reached him to interview. Mann said that he is aware of every volunteer and worker who has been working for the party. Some are given responsibilities in party organisation and government and the rest will be given the chance to serve people too. Governments run out of people but never out of posts, everyone will get the opportunity to work. The Aam Aadmi Party gives platform and opportunity to everyone and now the common people believe that they can become leaders and chairpersons too.