The Hindu : CPI(M) wants ban on TV ads by parties reimposed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

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CPI(M) wants ban on TV ads by parties reimposed

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 21. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged the Election Commission to re-impose the ban on advertising on television by political parties, besides a regulation in the print media.

The party apprehended that large-scale poll advertising could lead to a situation as in the United States where millions of dollars were spent by presidential candidates and advertising expenses formed a big part of election expenditure. The use of "big money" would create a "serious inequality" between political parties, the CPI(M) said.

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy, the party general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, said that in 1999, the Commission had banned advertisements on television by political parties.

This decision was, however, reversed before the December 2003 elections to five State Assemblies.

Such advertisements would seriously distort the electoral process and "in a poor country like India, democracy would be totally disturbed by money power."

Advertising on television was "very expensive" in which prime time slots for even a few minutes could cost lakhs of rupees.

"This will open the floodgates for use of big money and vitiate the polls. At a time when serious efforts are required to limit the influence of money, this will be a counterproductive step," the CPI(M) pointed out.

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