Free phone plan used to target voters in Indian state: report

The Indian states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have been distributing free smartphones and internet connections to a total of 15 million families since the start of November.

An Indian youth checks his phone as he sells plastic flowers at a local fair in Dharmsala, India, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018. [Photo: AP]

The program is not only helping telecom companies sell more phones, connections, and data but also subsidizing rural residents as the handsets and data are paid for by the state governments.
Supported by the central government plan of “Digital India”, the program aims to connect those who live in remote areas and those without digital connections to the outside world.
In Chhattisgarh, the program costs about 71 million U.S. dollars. Apart from free handsets, hundreds of cellphone towers will also be added throughout the state to ensure data signals. The program also gives a basic smartphone to every college student and one woman in every household. The Chhattisgarh program aims to affect 26 million people covering 7,000 villages.
But a recent New York Times report is claiming that the program is being used by the ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to reach voters directly, as the election for the state’s Assembly ends on Tuesday.
The report estimates that about 2.9 million people who have received free phones are targeted by the BJP.
The state of Rajasthan will hold its elections next month, where BJP is also making use of the subsidized phones to woo voters.
The report also said that party leaders are considering “extending the model to other states”.
The opposition Congress Party has filed a complaint arguing that other parties should also be given access to the database of phone recipients.
Moreover, the report also revealed that there are villagers complaining about the quality of the phones including poor battery life, apps that crash, and insufficient free monthly data.