Punjab Congress on Friday demanded from the poll panel to bar the airing of actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol’s movies on the national and regional television channels till the elections.
The state Pradesh Congress committee secretary Amit Singh Mantoo had written a letter to the Election Commission of India urging it to direct national and regional channels to stop airing of Sunny Deol’s movies till the elections end.
Mintoo, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly election from Sujanpur against BJP’s Dinesh Singh Babbu, claimed that such movies would create enormous electoral mileage for film star turned politician Sunny Deol who was also BJP candidate from Gurdaspur.
In his letter to EC, he said that the Bharatiya Janta Party, “by tactics of airing movies in television and video channels, is trying to lure voters of Gurdaspur parliamentary seat which is a clear violation of Modal Code of Conduct. “The movies are propaganda by the BJP to influence voters in Gurdaspur. But for healthy democracy, it is necessity to stop airing of his movies which are influencing free and fair election,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gurdaspur Congress too has voiced the same demand to stop airing of Sunny Deol’s movies on the television. District Congress president Roshan Joseph said that the movies would put an influence on the voters’ mind. “We have not a problem with his movies, but till the election end, the movies should not be aired in televisions to conduct free and fair elections,” he added.