Gurgaon, Sep 29 (IANS): Twelve candidates, contesting from four assembly seats in Gurgaon, have been served notice by the Election Commission for 'paid news', an official said.

Outgoing Haryana youth and sports minister Sukhbir Kataria contesting as an independent candidate from Gurgaon seat has been served notice for violating the model code of conduct. The other three candidates from this seat who have been served notice for 'paid news' are BJP's Umesh Aggarwal, independent R.S. Rathi and Gaje Singh.

The BJP candidate Rao Narbir Singh, Congress candidate Virender Singh and independent candidate Mukesh Sharma contesting from Badshahpur seat were also served same notices.

From Sohana constituency, Tej Pal Tanwar of the BJP, Rohtash Bedi of the Congress, Kishore Yadav of the INLD and independent candidate Rohtash Khatana were issued notice for allegedly paying money to get news published in some papers.

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate from Pataudi has also been served such notice.

The notices were issued on the recommendation of media certification and monitoring committee.

The cost of these 'paid news' will be added to candidates' poll expenditure.