NaMo TV, a BJP-sponsored channel that publicised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies, has gone off air, party sources said.
A BJP leader, requesting anonymity, said, “NaMo TV was meant as a tool of BJP campaign for the Lok Sabha election. With the polls over, it is no longer needed, so effectively from May 17, when all campaign has to be paused, it has also gone off air.”
The channel was mired in controversy ever since it went on air. The chief electoral officer of Delhi had sent a notice to the BJP for “airing election-related content” on NaMo TV even after the silence period began, but the party rejected the allegation of code violation.
In April, after the Election Commission had directed that all recorded programmes displayed on NaMo TV be pre-certified, the Delhi poll body asked the BJP not to air any content on the platform without its certification.
The chief electoral office in Delhi had also said since NaMo TV was sponsored by the BJP, all recorded programmes displayed on the platform be pre-certified by media certification and monitoring committee of Delhi and all political publicity contents displayed without pre-certification be removed immediately.
The commission had issued a notice seeking a report from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on NaMo TV, launched just weeks ahead of the general election, after opposition parties, including the Congress, asked the poll body to direct the ministry to suspend the channel in violation of the poll code.