New Delhi, February 29
The multi-crore ‘India Shining’ advertisement campaign by the government comes to end and the ban on advertisements by political parties on TV and radio comes into effect with the Election Commission announcing the poll schedule and the Model Code of Conduct coming into effect.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) T S Krishnamurthy told newspersons that it was the Election Commission’s interpretation of the model code of conduct that the (India Shining) campaign should end now.
Earlier, he had said as far as possible tax payers’ money should not be used for such practices. In a thinly veiled reference to “India Shining”, he questioned the propriety of the government using the tax payer’s money for electoral advantage.
On the political advertisements in TV and radio Mr Krishnamurthy said we had only asked the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to implement the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act which prohibits the telecast of advertisements of political and religious nature.
The CEC regretted that ministers and even senior mediapersons had misconstrued its directives. “We have only asked for the implementation of the Act passed by Parliament and not imposed any orders from our side,” he said.
On the remarks by the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting that the government does not have a mechanism to monitor the violations, he said, “It is for the government to take action. If we found any violation we would bring it to the notice of the government.”
