Chandigarh: Acting on a complaint of ruling
Shiromani Akali Dal, the Election Commission today restricted
media from publishing or airing advertisements with the word
'Kaka' and asked the Congress to clarify its use in its ad
campaign.
The ruling SAD had complained against the Pradesh Congress
Committee for allegedly issuing advertisements frequently
using the word "Kaka".
"The EC's Media Monitoring Committee has asked as to whom
the word 'Kaka' was being referred to while further directing
the parties that such types of advertisements should not be
published/ telecast/broadcast," a spokesman of the State's
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said in a statement here.
State Assembly polls in Punjab are scheduled to be
held on January 30 and the main contest is seen between the
SAD-BJP combine and the Congress.
Referring to the paid advertisements being aired on a
private channel, the Media Monitoring Committee has asked the
channel whether they had sought prior approval before airing
it.
The Committee has ordered the channel to stop such
kind of telecast and also reply by tomorrow.
"It was being found that the channel was airing
programmes promoting the interest of candidates belonging to
Shiromani Akali Dal," the spokesman said.
In order to ensure free and fair poll in the state and
to respond to the complaints of the people on the violation of
Model Code of Conduct, all the four senior officers right from
the Chief Electoral Officer to Joint Chief Electoral Officer
would remain available on their mobile phones, he said.
The CEO has received 385 complaints of violations of
the model code across the state, out of which 130 have been
resolved so far.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 01, 2012, 20:20