Dakha by-election: pre-certification of political ads must: district election officer

Ludhiana, September 26, 2019: In view of the upcoming Dakha by-election, the Election Commission of India has made it mandatory for the political parties or candidates or any other organisation or any person to obtain pre-certification by the district Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) for the content of the political advertisements to be issued in print media on the poll day and one day prior to it. District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Agrawal today held a meeting with the media persons, representatives of newspaper and advertising agencies in this regard. Pradeep Kumar Agrawal informed that in order to ensure that no untoward incident takes place because of any inflammatory, misleading or hate advertisements, the ECI, in exercise of its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution of India and all other powers enabling it in this behalf, hereby directs that no political Party or Candidate or any other Organisation or Person shall publish any advertisement in the print media on poll day and one day prior poll day, unless the contents of political advertisements are pre-certified by the district-level MCMC Committee. He also appealed to the media persons to assist them in checking the trend of paid news. He said that if any political advertisement is to be telecast on electronic media, it should be pre-certified by the district-level MCMC. He also directed the printing press owners that if they publish any publicity material of any candidate or political party, then they should ensure that the type of election campaign, total number, name of printer and publisher, address etc is mentioned on the material. Besides, they should also send information regarding this to the district-level MCMC. The liquor contractors have been directed that in view of the Model Code of Conduct, they should check all kinds of illegal activities related to liquor. He said that to ensure that no such illegal activity takes place, the District Election Office is also keeping a close watch with the help of different surveillance teams. During the meeting, Pradeep Kumar Agrawal also read out all directions of the Election Commission of India in the presence of all stakeholders and directed them to follow them. He also clarified that any person violating the model code of conduct would be dealt with strictly. Prominent among those present on the occasion included ADC (General) Iqbal Singh Sandhu, AETC Deepak Ruhela, District Public Relations Officer Prabhdeep Singh Nathowal, Tehsildar (Elections) Anju Bala, besides several others.