Cracking the whip, the Election Commission on Wednesday asked State Governments to take down all unauthorised political advertisements in form of graffiti, posters, cutouts, hoardings, banner flags from government, public and private properties and send a compliance report in the next 24 hours.
In a letter to the Union Cabinet Secretary and chief secretaries of all states and union territories, the EC said that despite its letter issued on March 16 when the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections came into force, it has received complaints that such defacements have not been removed. The Congress had recently raised the issue with the poll panel.
“All unauthorised political advertisements, in the form of wall writings, posters, papers or defacement in any other form, cutouts, hoardings, banner flags were ordered to be removed in a time bound manner from public spaces like railway stations, bus stands, airports, railway bridges, roadways, government buses, electric/telephone poles, municipal/local bodies’ building and a strict compliance in this was to be ensured,” it reminded the governments.
The Commission said it has taken a “serious note” of the non-compliance or partial-compliance of its instructions. It directed all state and union territory governments to “immediately remove all unauthorised political advertisements and ensure full compliance of its instructions”. It sought a compliance report in this regard by 5 pm on Thursday. The EC has directed the Karnataka chief electoral officer to take immediate and appropriate action on the DMK’s complaint about alleged model code violation by Union minister and BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje. The poll panel also sought a compliance report on the matter within 48 hours. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has sought action against Karandlaje for alleging that a person from Tamil Nadu was responsible for the IED blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru on March 1. In its complaint to the Election Commission earlier in the day, the DMK said that the minister’s statement generalised the people of Tamil Nadu as “extremists”.