‘No Application Received’: TRAI Refutes Congress’ Claim Of Blocking Bid To Send ‘Poll Fraud’ SMS

Last Updated:September 08, 2025, 17:29 IST

TRAI denied Congress claims of blocking election SMS, saying no application was received and rejection was by service provider STPL, not TRAI or EC.

TRAI on Monday said it did not receive any application that pertained to sending SMS to a political party’s Maharashtra cadre (File)

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday rebutted Congress’s allegations of blocking its bid to send messages about the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections being “stolen,” saying that no such application was ever received by the authority.

In a post on X, TRAI asserted that it does not even deal with approvals of individual SMS templates.

“No application was received by #TRAI for sending SMS to a political party’s Maharashtra cadre on how the 2024 Assembly election was ‘stolen’,” TRAI said on X without naming Congress.

It added that the application was submitted to one of the service providers, who rejected it.

“TRAI was at no stage involved in this process. In fact, TRAI does not deal with approval of individual message templates,” the regulator clarified, tagging a screenshot of the rejection by ‘STPL’, a service provider.

“As per the photo, it is clear that it was rejected by the service provider, STPL,” TRAI wrote in its post hash-tagged ‘#FactCheck’.

The telecom regulator’s rebuttal came a day after the Congress claimed that the former rejected its application for sending out SMSes to its Maharashtra cadre with the link of a documentary on how Maharashtra assembly elections were allegedly “stolen” on the grounds that it is “content related to protest”.

Congress had also claimed that the rejection indicated “telltale signs of guilt of Maharashtra election fraud” and there were coordinated moves by various arms of the government to suppress information.

Congress’ data analytics department chairman Praveen Chakravarty said that the rejection reflected a wider conspiracy to suppress the issue.

“How is there such perfect synchronisation between home ministry, election commission & telecom regulator to suppress? Does one need more telltale signs of guilt of Maharashtra election fraud than such coordinated moves by various arms of the government to suppress & hide information?” he said on X.

Congress leader Manickam Tagore dubbed the TRAI decision as ridiculous and remarked that TRAI seems to have become the IT cell of BJP.

“Who controls this censorship chain? Amit Shah, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Gnaneshwar (Kumar). Home ministry surveillance. Railways/telecom ministry blocks communication. Election Commission silent spectator. One coordinated machine to hide the truth of Maharashtra 2024 fraud. Amit Shah, if Maharashtra elections weren’t stolen, why are you so scared of a YouTube link,” he asked.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of enabling “vote chori”, or electoral theft, to benefit the BJP. Congress leaders have alleged discrepancies in turnout data, sudden voting surges late in the day, and large-scale additions or deletions from the electoral rolls between the two elections.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged that former Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar played a decisive role in helping the BJP secure victories, pointing to the decision recognising the Eknath Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and awarding it the party’s symbol.

“The 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections were won by BJP and their allies with significant help from this gentleman (Rajiv Kumar)! By giving the Shiv Sena party and symbol to the traitor faction, he encouraged defections!” Raut had said in his post on X.

The Election Commission has firmly rejected all these allegations. Current Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has dismissed the Opposition’s claims as hearsay and political distraction. He pointed out that despite the seriousness of the accusations, the Congress did not file any formal complaints or petitions for eight months after the Assembly polls, undercutting its case further.

The EC has consistently denied any wrongdoing, rejecting both the “match-fixing” charge in Maharashtra and earlier allegations of manipulated voter rolls.

(With inputs from agencies)

About the Author

Shobhit Gupta

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben…Read More

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben… Read More

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