The Kerala High Court has directed Google and Meta to preserve the social media data of Guruvayur MLA N.K. Akbar, including certain posts and YouTube videos allegedly prejudicial to his fellow candidate C.H. Rasheed, during the May 2026 Legislative Assembly elections.
Justice Harisankar V. Menon was considering a petition by Mr. Rasheed alleging that Mr. Akbar had engaged in corrupt practices during the election, through the circulation of certain pamphlets and videos.
Mr. Rasheed sought the immediate preservation of the impugned content along with edit and deletion history, timestamps, and other digital records for their use as evidence in the election petition.
Mr. Rasheed argued that the content portrayed him as being involved in the alleged murder of former Chavakkad municipal chairman K.P. Valsalan in 2006. It was alleged that such content positioned him as a person against the Muslim community, which led to a large number of people voting against him.
The petition alleged that Mr. Akbar committed the offences of promoting enmity between different classes of people on the grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or language and the publication of false statements by a candidate under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Published – September 10, 2026 06:00 am IST
