TRAI rejects Congress claim of blocking SMS on Maharashtra poll allegations

New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday denied allegations by the Congress party that it had blocked SMS communications related to a documentary on alleged irregularities in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Congress had claimed its request to send text messages containing a YouTube link to party workers in Maharashtra was turned down on the grounds that it was “content related to protest”.

Responding on social media, TRAI clarified that it “does not deal with approval of individual message templates” and had not received any such application. “No application was received by #TRAI for sending SMS to a political party's Maharashtra cadre on how the 2024 Assembly election was ‘stolen’,” the regulator said in a post on X.

#FactCheck
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 doesn't approve individual SMS templates.
As per the photo, it is clear that it was rejected by the service provider, STPL pic.twitter.com/KNan82dczM

— TRAI (@TRAI) September 8, 2025

TRAI further stated that the rejection in question came from a service provider. “As per the photo, it is clear that it was rejected by the service provider, STPL,” it added, tagging a screenshot of the rejection notice and hashtagging the post as a “#FactCheck”.

Congress, however, alleged a broader attempt to suppress information. Praveen Chakravarty, chairman of the party’s data analytics department, said Congress had followed government procedures by filing an application with TRAI to share the documentary link via SMS.

He claimed that “TRAI rejected permission to send SMSes, saying it is 'protest content’”.

In a post on X, Chakravarty questioned, “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?”

1: @INCIndia wanted to send a sms to its Maharashtra cadre of the link to the YouTube documentary ‘How the MH 2024 election was stolen’ - https://t.co/UeBZDYFDRC
2: As per govt process, application was filed with TRAI, telecom regulatory authority for approval
3: TRAI rejects… pic.twitter.com/VkXPt2R7o4

— Praveen Chakravarty (@pravchak) September 7, 2025