Candidates of Chatra, Palamau, Deoghar and Giridih districts contesting the lok Sabha elections have been found guilty in promoting themselves through ‘paid news’; an offence against the guidelines of Election Commission of India. On the other hand, candidates representing districts of Hazaribagh and Bokaro were initially in this “wrong scenario” but were proved “innocent” after a detailed inquiry.
According to the first four district authorities, the expenses for such kind of news have been included in the “election expenditure” of particular candidates. However, the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Jharkhand has not yet received complains from many of these districts since the respective deputy commissioners (DC) are tackling the “problem” at their own level.
“Usually, when we are sounded on paid news the matter is forwarded to Press Council of India regarding publication in print media and broadcasting in electronic media for taking strict action through inquiry,” CEO PK Jajoria said. Candidates of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Indian National Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janta Dal (United) and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) have topped in the list of this corruption, claim sources.
“We have received nine reports on paid news. Five of them have been found true wherein orders are passed against candidates. For the remaining four, we have issued notices to particular candidates by returning officers but are yet to get the former’s response. This includes BJP, Congress and AJSU,” Chatra DC Amit Kumar said. Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, Nagmani and Sunil Kumar Singh of Congress, AJSU and BJP respectively are nominees from this constituency.
Palamau DC KN Jha said, “A show cause has been put up against RJD candidate contesting from our district.” Notably, Manoj Kumar is representing from RJD in Palamau. Meanwhile, Hazaribagh DC Sunil Kumar informed that they observed two or three cases of paid news but after initial inspections over such forgery, the candidate proved himself “clean” from this activity. “later, it was revealed that these cases are actually not paid news,” Kumar said. A similar incident happened at Bokaro as well.
Speaking about other districts, deputy CEO Abhay Kumar Rao said they have received around nine complains on paid news from Gumla districts. Unfortunately, the mentioned district officials were unable to disclose anything saying “We are unaware”.
Besides news reports, the media cell of Ranchi district is keeping an eye on the advertisements published by local candidates. “Though advertisements are indirect form of paid news, we have noticed that AJSU candidate Sudesh Mahto has spent more than Rs 1 lakh in newspaper advertisements. It is not exactly paid news so no action needs to be taken,” an official of collectorate said.