Amaravati(AP), May 19: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu Sunday mocked at the exit polls, saying they were not exact polls.

"Exit polls do not mean exact polls. We have to understand that. Since 1999, most of the exit polls have gone wrong," the Vice-President pointed out.

Naidu addressed an informal meeting of well-wishers, who felicitated him in Guntur.

Referring to the ongoing general elections, he said every party exuded confidence (over victory).

"Everyone exhibits his own confidence till the 23rd (day of counting). There will be no base for it. So we have to wait for 23rd," he remarked.

"Country and the state need an able leader and stable government, whoever it be. That's what is required. That's all," Naidu observed.

The Vice-President also said change in society should start with political parties.

"If democracy has to strengthen and something good has to happen to people elections, selections, candidates, parties all should discharge their duties responsibly and properly," he noted.

The Vice President lamented that civility has become a casualty in the present political discourse.

"There is a lot of degeneration in the speeches of political leaders. They are resorting to personal abuses.

One is not an enemy to the other in politics, they are only rivals... They are forgetting this basic fact," he said.

Expressing anguish over the behaviour of elected representatives in Parliament and state legislatures, he said, "See how MPs are behaving in Parliament and MLAs in Assembly, irrespective of the parties. Panchayat and civic bodies' members follow them."

The Vice-President also found fault with political parties announcing freebies to win over the electorate.

"The way parties are behaving.. you have been given a mandate for five years. You have to work. Without doing that, you announce freebies at the last minute. I am always opposed to it. Free power means, no power," Naidu observed.

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Bengaluru (PTI): An FIR has been registered against unknown people for allegedly sending fraudulent messages in the name of an e-commerce platform with promises of cash rewards, further disrupting its operations, police said on Wednesday.

The offence is said to have taken place between April 23 and April 27, they said.

A representative of city-based technology company Hiveloop Technology Pvt Ltd (HTPL), part of the Udaan group (eB2B platform), has lodged a complaint alleging a large-scale SMS spoofing fraud following which a detailed investigation has been initiated into the matter, a senior police officer said.

According to the FIR, HTPL is a registered entity on the TRAI-mandated DLT platform, which permits only pre-approved SMS templates and whitelisted URLs to be sent through authorised sender IDs.

The issue came to light on April 23, when HTPL received alerts from buyers about fraudulent SMS messages appearing to originate from the company's sender ID "UDAANN". The messages reportedly contained Bitly links and falsely claimed a credit of Rs 10,001, urging recipients to withdraw money, it said.

On April 27, at around 12:49 pm, the DLT platform blacklisted HTPL's SMS templates, citing their alleged use in sending fraudulent messages. Within minutes, the company's sender ID was also blacklisted. Airtel's DLT system subsequently confirmed the action and shared details of the fraudulent messages that were circulated in HTPL's name without its knowledge or consent, the FIR stated.

Following this, the company's messaging operations were affected, and even legitimate communications such as one-time passwords to buyers began failing. Later, the DLT operator suspended HTPL's entire account following complaints raised on TRAI's Chakshu platform, bringing all SMS services of the company to a halt, it further stated.

HTPL has stated that neither it nor its authorised vendors sent the fraudulent messages. The links embedded in the messages reportedly redirected users to an online betting website, the FIR stated.

The company has claimed that the incident has resulted in a complete breakdown of SMS-based services, including buyer authentication, order updates and promotional communication, leading to significant financial losses.

At least 13 victims have been identified so far, with the possibility of more affected users. Victims were allegedly directed to an online betting platform, raising concerns of potential financial fraud, the FIR added.