Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Apr 27: A day after the Congress approached the Election Commission alleging that BJP was resorting to false and defamatory advertisement campaigns, the Election Commission on Friday April 27 passed an order restraining three of the BJP advertisements on television and all online media.
The Congress had in a letter to the EC had complained that 'defamatory and character assassination advertisements' in violation of the model code of conduct. "The advertisements allege that the government has turned Karnataka to hell and that the government is responsible for breaking up society, death of farmers and not stopping murders of ‘patriots’ amongst an array of allegations," the Congress had said.
"In fact, the advertisements are made even more shocking by virtue of the fact that all political advertisements (print or electronic) have been pre-certified with regard to the content, by the Media certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) as per the directions of the Supreme Court. That is the duty of the MCMC to not only certify but also monitor political advertisements to ascertain that the advertisements are not violating any provisions of the MCC and other laws," it read.
Taking note of the complaint, the Election Commission on Friday directed all television channels and other media to restrain from publishing three BJP advertisements which were earlier certified by the state-level pre-certification committee.
Of the three advertisements, one is titled 'Jana Virodhi Sarkara' running for 35 seconds, another is titled 'Viphala Sarkara' also running for 35 seconds, and the third is titled 'Mooru Bhagya' of 50 seconds.
The order also applies for social media and other digital media. Regarding similar advertisements in print media, the EC directed the respective jurisdictional district election officer to scrutinise the matter and take appropriate action.