Haryana: Kaithal polling officer's ENCORE creds used to post derogatory posts; 5 suspended

Kaithal: Five staffers at the State Election Commission office in Kaithal were suspended after they were found to be involved in the misuse of an Assistant Returning Officer's (ARO) log-in credentials for the Election Commission's ENCORE portal.
The incident, according to officials, took place on April 4 when an unauthorised individual or group gained access to the ENCORE portal using the user ID assigned to an ARO for the Kaithal assembly segment under the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency of Haryana.
The culprits then misused the access to post derogatory content on the portal.
The Kaithal Deputy Commissioner took to its social media handle on April 5 to inform the public about the incident.
"An incident was reported on April 4, 2024, wherein the user ID of Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) Kaithal, Parliamentary Constituency (PC) Kurukshetra, was misused by hitherto unknown person/s to access the ENCORE portal, and make derogatory posts therein," the Kaithal deputy commissioner posted on his X handle.
"Action, including suspension of 5 persons suspected to be involved in the incident and registration of FIR No. 0012 dated 5.4.2024 at Cyber Crime Police Station, Kaithal, has been taken. Besides this, an enquiry is underway to ascertain further details," he added in his post.
The deputy commissioner assured swift action in light of the breach. Five individuals suspected to be involved in the incident were suspended, officials informed.
An FIR was filed at the Cyber Crime police station at Kaithal on Friday.
Police said a probe is underway to gather further details in the case and identify those responsible.
The ENCORE portal is a platform used by the EC for managing election data and communication between officials.