NEW DELHI — India’s information technology minister on Wednesday warned against any abuse of social media in elections, following reports that a British consultancy improperly accessed information on millions of Facebook users to target US voters.

India is due to hold a national election in 2019 and there are several states electing new assemblies this year and the next.

“Abuse of social media including Facebook cannot be allowed to impact the fairness of elections,” Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

“In the wake of recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California. Any covert or overt attempt to misuse social media including Facebook to influence India’s electoral process through undesirable means will neither be tolerated, nor be permitted.”

Citing media reports about the opposition Congress’ plan to use the firm’s service for next year’s elections, Prasad, who also keep the portfolio of law, called upon Rahul Gandhi to explain the company’s role in his social media outreach. The BJP leader said the number of Gandhi’s Twitter followers had shot up recently and wondered if it was due to the services of the firm that he achieved this “fake popularity”.

“Will the Congress now depend on data manipulation and theft to woo voters?” Prasad asked.

“The Congress must explain if it has engaged in data trade with Cambridge Analytica,” he said, questioning the opposition party’s “silence” despite numerous reports of its link with the company.

Rebutting the charges made by the ruling party, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said neither his party nor Rahul Gandhi has ever hired the services of the beleaguered company. “Indian National Congress or the Congress president has never used or never hired the services of a company called Cambridge Analytica. It is a fake agenda and white lie being dished out by Prasad,” said Surjewala.

Describing Prasad as ‘lawless’ law minister, the Congress leader said, “BJP’s factory of fake news has produced one more fake product today. It appears fake statements, fake press conferences & fake agendas have become everyday character of BJP.”

An India-based spokeswoman for Menlo Park, California-headquartered Facebook did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Cambridge Analytica has denied media accusations and said it deleted the data after learning the information did not adhere to data protection rules.

Facebook has said it has tightened its controls on such practices since it discovered the alleged abuses by Cambridge Analytica in 2015, but the issue has continued to rock the companies involved as well as some political parties across the world. — Agencies