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19 Jul, 8 tweets, 6 min read
BREAKING | #ProjectPegasus

Ashok Lavasa, the only member of the 3-man Election Commission to rule that PM Modi had violated the MCC during the 2019 election campaign, was selected as a potential candidate for surveillance just weeks after his dissent.

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
When we approached the former EC member, he refused to participate in the story.

Without forensic analysis of the phone, it is not possible to determine whether the instrument was successfully infected. | @kabira_tweeting

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
@kabira_tweeting The records show that Lavasa was selected for potential surveillance weeks after he had dissented not once but in five different matters of alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct by then BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi.

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
@kabira_tweeting Lavasa was not the only person key to the transparent conduct of elections in India who was selected as a target of potential surveillance at around that time.

There were at least two others.

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
@kabira_tweeting .@JagdeepChhokar, who is founder and trustee of the democracy watchdog, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), and @KhurafatiChopra, who covers the Election Commission for The Indian Express.

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
@kabira_tweeting @JagdeepChhokar @KhurafatiChopra Chhokar told The Wire that he was not sure why he may have been a target or why at that time.

He said that there have been occasions when he has been asked about why certain items have been included in the ‘election watch’ reports.

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
@kabira_tweeting @JagdeepChhokar @KhurafatiChopra Chopra declined to comment but Indian Express noted in a report yesterday that “During that time, Chopra revealed the divide within the Election Commission over its response to complaints of poll code violations..."

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
@kabira_tweeting @JagdeepChhokar @KhurafatiChopra "... including those related to then incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then BJP president Amit Shah.”

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…

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More from @thewire_in

The Wire Profile picture
21 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject

Two political personalities from Assam, Samujjal Bhattacharjee of AASU and Anup Chetia of the pro-talks faction of ULFA are in the leaked list of potential spyware targets, along with a Manipuri writer. | @sangbarooahpish

thewire.in/government/peg…
@sangbarooahpish On July 16, 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced the reconstitution of a ‘high level committee’ to implement Clause 6, a salient section of the Assam Accord.

Bhattacharjee's number was added on the list less than a month before this.

thewire.in/government/peg…
@sangbarooahpish The clause is designed to provide ‘constitutional safeguards” to the “Assamese people” and its importance had come to the fore in the wake of the Modi government’s stated desire to amend the Citizenship Act...

thewire.in/government/peg…
Read 8 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
21 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject

In 2018, the phone numbers of 6 senior officials from Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Pvt. Lt and Monsanto India were selected as possible candidates for surveillance.

thewire.in/government/mon…
In February 2018, the then BJP govt in Maharashtra set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe companies that were allegedly selling or releasing unapproved herbicide-tolerant (HT) transgenic cotton, or Bt cotton, seeds in the state.

thewire.in/government/mon…
In particular, the state had accused several seed companies of surreptitiously releasing the seeds in several cotton-growing districts of Maharashtra, and parts of Gujarat, Telangana and Karnataka.

thewire.in/government/mon…
Read 9 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
21 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject There is circumstantial evidence to believe the attempt to surveil Gagandeep Kang – today a household name because of her work on the SARS-CoV-2 virus – is linked to the Nipah virus outbreak. | @1amnerd

thewire.in/government/peg…
@1amnerd Around the same time, between April and July 2018, the name of another individual shows up as having been selected for potential surveillance.

This individual, who did not consent to being named...

thewire.in/government/peg…
@1amnerd ...was involved in a collaboration that included the Manipal Centre for Virus Research (MCVR), to monitor the Nipah outbreak.

In February 2020, India’s health ministry alleged that MCVR was storing Nipah virus samples without the proper safeguards.

thewire.in/government/peg…
Read 7 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
20 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject

The numbers of Umar Khalid, Ambedkarite activist Ashok Bharti, Bela Bhatia, railway union leader Shiv Gopal Mishra, and many others are listed in the database of those potentially targeted for surveillance.

thewire.in/rights/from-am…
The list also includes former JNU students Anirban Bhattacharya and Banjyotsna Lahiri, anti-coal mining activist Alok Shukla; DU professor Saroj Giri; Bastar-based peace activist Shubhranshu Choudhary and Bihar-based activist Ipsa Shatakshi.

thewire.in/rights/from-am…
.@AjoyAshirwad, @sukanyashantha, and @kabira_tweeting report that their appearance on the list suggests that they were persons of interest to an unidentified client of the NSO Group that was focused on India.

thewire.in/rights/from-am…
Read 7 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
20 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject

In the run up to the toppling of the opposition-run state govt in Karnataka in July 2019, the numbers of deputy CM G. Parameshwara and the personal secretaries of CM H.D. Kumaraswamy and former CM Siddaramaiah were on the list.
thewire.in/politics/karna…
The records indicate that the phone numbers of some of the key political players in Karnataka appear to have been selected around the time after 17 ruling alliance’s legislators abruptly resigned to force a trust vote in the assembly. | @AjoyAshirwad

thewire.in/politics/karna…
@AjoyAshirwad This period also coincides with the selection of a new number Rahul Gandhi began to use after discarding an earlier one he had been operation, and which had been on the list of potential spyware targets since 2018.

thewire.in/politics/karna…
Read 9 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
20 Jul
On the subject of the potential surveillance targeting of the staffer who accused former CJI Gogoi of sexual harassment, @ShashiTharoor says, "It's difficult to understand why an ordinary woman, in this deeply personal case, was being targeted."

@ShashiTharoor "If she was being surveilled, what was found out? If something was found out, who was it told to? Was CJI Gogoi given the fruit of this surveillance? And if after all this surveillance, CJI Gogoi won the case, why was she brought back to the court?"

@ShashiTharoor (Referring to this:)

thewire.in/women/supreme-…
Read 4 tweets

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