Date: 
22.01.2010

The Election Commission has issued a notice to Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the “paid news case”, asking him to reply by February 1. Chavan has been accused by the opposition BJP of “placing advertisements in newspapers that were passed off as news items”.

The BJP had moved the Election Commission, charging Chavan with “grossly undervaluing his election expenditure”. The party had submitted more than 16 CDs and a bunch of press clippings, along with its complaint, to the Election Commission.

The poll panel is learnt to have sent copies of the CDs and press clippings to the Chief Minister, asking him to respond specifically to the individual charges. The Election Commission will formulate its view on the matter only after it received a reply. A candidate can be disqualified if found guilty on account of undervaluing election expenditure (and spending in excess of the EC ceiling). A parallel case on the matter is also underway in the Bombay High Court.

Chavan’s election expenditure became a matter of debate, leading the BJP to file a complaint to the EC, following a newspaper report on November 29, 2009.

The phenomenon of “paid news” has also attracted the attention of the Election Commission, as its teams have found “shocking instances of paid news in various states”. A team of Editors’ Guild of India will meet top officials of the poll panel on Friday to discuss possible measures to check the malaise.

The Election Commission wants the media to pay attention to the instances of paid news in normal times, too. Delivering a talk on the coming diamond jubilee celebrations of the Election Commission, Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Wednesday said, “Paid news was despicable, elections or no elections... The gatekeeper must not allow himself to be bought by the thief.” The Election Commission has also constituted a dedicated cell to track the expenditure of candidates contesting elections.

City: 
NEW DELHI
Source url: 
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/paid-news-ec-notice-to-chavan/570320/
Press Clippings : 
Author: 
Suman K Jha
© Association for Democratic Reforms
Privacy And Terms Of Use
Donation Payment Method