Pro-AAP fake news peddler, Janta Ka Reporter and its editor Rifat Jawaid have done it again. Rifat Jawaid has not only been caught peddling fake news, again, but he has lashed out at the Election Commission and Twitter for removing his video peddling fake news about EVMs.
Rifat Jawaid of Janta Ka Reporter took to Twitter to say, “I am appalled that Election Commission has bullied Twitter to remove my video blog on missing EVMs. Shocking that Twitter has allowed itself to be bullied again. Are we in Banana Republic it emergency has been declared? Should there be outrage on this?”.
https://twitter.com/RifatJawaid/status/1127543383738568704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Jawaid lamented that Twitter had cowed down to bullying by the Election Commission and asked if we are in a Banana Republic “it emergency has been declared”.
Janta Ka Reporter had on 8th May published a sorry story on its blog that alleged that 20 lac EVMs had gone missing and the EC had no idea where they went.
The same news report was carried by Frontline magazine and TV Bharatvarsh as well. Election Commission of India (EC) has issued a clarification about a report published by few media houses that alleged 20 lakh electronic voting machines (EVMs) had gone missing from the possession of the ECI. Sheyphali. B. Sharan, the spokesperson for ECI issued an official statement addressed to the editors of Frontline magazine and TV9 Bharatvarsh channel on behalf of the commission to refute their virulent claims.
The report had quoted sources from an RTI-based public interest petition in the Bombay High Court to justify its claim. Through this report, the author had highlighted EVMs were vulnerability and unreliable through the ongoing 2019 general election. A claim that ECI has been discrediting all along.
Interestingly, the report that was published by Janta Ka Reporter came much after the reports on Frontline appeared. After the clarification by the Election Commission, ECI spokesperson informed that the editor of Frontline has acknowledged that their report is false and a rejoinder will be published. On the other hand, TV9 Bharatvarsh has deleted the report from their website and Youtube.
While Frontline and TV Bharatvarsh acknowledge that they peddled fake news, pro-AAP blog and its Editor Rifat Jawaid seem to be brazening it out and demanding that people outrage that the ECI has got Twitter to remove their blatant fake news video blog about missing EVMs.
Hilariously, after peddling blatant fake news, ignoring the clarification by ECI and also the fact that fellow fake news peddlers like TV Bharatvarsh had admitted that they had peddled fake news, Rifat Jawaid in his pro-AAP rag has said that he is contemplating legal action against the Election Commission of India and Twitter for removing his video blog peddling fake news.
Every election season, opposition parties and their mouthpieces like Janta Ka Reporter raise the EVM bogey to cut their losses and preemptively make an excuse for their imminent loss. In 2017 as well, Janta Ka Reporter had misquoted the Chief Election Officer to malign EVMs.