J&K's Apni Party grapples with Twitter account controversy

The recently floated Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) led by Altaf Bukhari on Thursday urged the management of social media platform Twitter to take down fake handles attributed to the party that have been created for peddling misinformation and indulging in deceptive activity to mislead the people.

A spokesman of the party said: "Jammu Kashmir Apni Party is still in the process of registration with the Election Commission of India (ECI). We have not created any official handles of the JKAP on Twitter so far. So the Twitter management should take cognizance of the fact and take down/suspend these fake accounts that have been created by certain vested interest groups or individuals to disseminate politically motivated and unauthorized information in the public domain."

The spokesman said that unfortunately several of these Twitter handles in the name of JKAP are being operated by people who are not associated with the Party.

"The Twitter should take notice of such fake handles who are indulging in spam or other types of platform manipulations. Since the Twitter has a wider reach, it should not allow fake handles to engage in bulk, aggressive, or deceptive activity that misleads people or disrupts the authentic activities on the social media platform," the JKAP spokesman added.

Interestingly, JKAP Twitter handle emerged on monday drawing traction from a lot of journalists and some politicians including Usman Majeed, who resigned from the Congress party to join Apni party and was present along side Altaf Bukhari when the party was launched in Srinagar on Sunday (March 8).

The Twitter handle has 214 followers and is followed by 78 people. The handle has a Display photo of the party flag.

The twitter handle mostly has retweets of news related to the Apni Party.

In one tweet it said, "When ever these dynastic parties feel threat to their chairs, they start branding their opposite political alternatives as A, B, C." IANS