The Hindu : Govt. advt. violation of model code: EC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 15, 2003

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Govt. advt. violation of model code: EC

New Delhi Oct. 14. The Election Commission today said that the release of advertisements highlighting the achievements of the BJP-led Government at the Centre in the five States going to the polls was a "clear violation" of the Model Code of Conduct and directed that the practice be stopped forthwith.

"With the announcement of the election schedule on October 6, the Model Code of Conduct came into force immediately. The display of such advertisements at the cost of public exchequer constitutes a clear violation of the Code," the Commission told the Government.

This was because it provided an "undue advantage" to the party in power and had the effect of "influencing" the voters in favour of the party in power, it said in a communication to the Cabinet Secretary and the Information and Broadcasting Secretary.

The Commission's directive came a day after the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, had rejected the charge that the release of the ads to mark the completion of four years in office of the NDA Government was in violation of the Code saying they highlighted the achievements of the Centre and not of those States going to the polls.

The Commission said that it had come to its notice that a number of advertisements overtly and covertly depicting the achievements of the party in power at the Centre were being displayed through newspaper advertisements and TV spots at the cost of the public exchequer. The advertisements were also appearing in newspaper editions in the five States, it noted.

Though the advertisements extolled ostensibly either the achievements of the Government or announced projects/programmes to be taken up in parts of the country where elections were not being held, they seemed to have been issued with "an eye on the coming elections".

Drawing the Government's attention to certain sections of the Code relating to the `party in power', the Commission said "the party in power whether at the Centre or in the State or States concerned, shall ensure that no cause is given for any complaint that it has used its official position for the purposes of its election campaign".— PTI

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