Chandigarh, April 20
Voters in Punjab may not be able to see election-related advertisements on their television screens for some more days. The reason: the three-member committee constituted by the Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab to review such advertisements has raised objections to the contents of the compact discs (CDs) submitted by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) for use in the electronic media.

The CEO has also rejected the CD of the Miri Piri Sewa Dal holding that neither the organisation was registered nor did it have a registered office anywhere.

The Election Commission has circulated the April 13 order of the Supreme Court relating to advertisements of political nature on TV channels and cable networks. Political parties, their candidates, groups of people, individuals and trusts, who want to run advertisements on the electronic media, are required to submit for previewing, scrutinising and certifying the advertisements to be telecast on TV channels or cable networks.

The PPCC had sent two CDs for clearance. The committee comprising Mr Babu Lal (Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab), Ms Raji Pramod Srivastava (Additional Chief Administrator, Punjab Urban Development Authority), and Mr Chaman Lal (Information Officer, Press Information Bureau), after viewing the CDs raised objections to the contents and sent them back to the PPCC asking it to make amendments.

Since the CDs were returned on April 18, day after these had been submitted, the PPCC was required to resubmit the amended CDs within 24 hours which it, according to sources, failed to do so. The PPCC can submit these CDs after making the necessary modifications for approval.