Election commission is vigilant it appears to ensure that the ruling party doesn’t take undue advantage of its power to garner votes by propagating achievements using the public money.
In the recent past, public is witness to big full and half page advertisement from the Congress Government with photos of the PM, Congress Leader Sonia Gandhi (Why?) and State Chief Ministers, publicizing the achievements over the past five years.
It must be recalled that the very same party (Congress) was at the forefront criticizing BJP for its, equally wrong, “India Shining” campaign during the last elections (2004).
It is good that the Election Commission is still impartial and is using its power to control the ruling party from misusing the power. One has to see how it functions when Mr Naveen Chawla, presently considered tainted by BJP, takes over as the CEC around the last leg of the parliament elections.
Following story is from India Today.
The Election Commission has taken serious note of full page advertisements in major dailies on the Commonwealth Games and directed the Delhi government to recover the cost from the personal accounts of those who released them.
In a letter to Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Chief Secretary of Delhi government, the EC sought the names of officers who authorised the release of those advertisements and the total expenditure incurred on them.
“The total cost of the advertisements should be recovered from the personal accounts of the officers and persons responsible for the release of the advertisements,” it said.
The advertisement enumerated the achievements of the Central government and the Delhi Government regarding the development works carried out in the capital which included 24 flyovers, 75 aerobridge airport, 1285 kms of better roads and 5000 low floor buses, the EC pointed out.
“This is a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct which prohibits publication of the achievements of the governments at the cost of the public exchequer,” the EC said and sought a compliance report by Monday.
