Election panel cancels political ads making fun of parties, politicians

Hyderabad: Taking note of political advertisements where the parties have been belittling each other through memes, cartoons, cut-outs and lookalikes of political leaders, the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Telangana State has issued a notice cancelling the approval to political advertisements for violation of Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) Rules. They have also asked the media to stop all telecasting and publication of such advertisements with immediate effect.

A letter from the state-level certification committee to the various media, stated, “The political advertisements approved by the state-level certification committee for the purpose of general elections to the Legislative Assembly, 2023 are modified and misused. Further, it is observed that they are being telecasted in violation of the rules of MCMC. Hence the approvals for those political advertisements are cancelled.”

The office of the CEO has also written to the different political parties informing them about the cancellation of permission for such political advertisements violating MCMC rules. The decision was taken based on the discussion with the Certification Committee to review the captioned subject matter and discussions on all discrepancies and issues. All parties had agreed to abide by the decision of the Certification Committee to cancel the approvals given to the advertisements and gave assurance that these issues would not be repeated again.

In its letter to the general secretary of BJP, Telangana State, the CEO office stated that based on the discussion with the Certification Committee, it has been decided to withhold permissions given to five political advertisements of the BJP and the same was already communicated to the all the media. The advertisements were about two-bedroom houses, farmers and other pertinent topics.

In another letter sent to the general secretary of the Indian National Congress, Telangana State, the CEO office stated that based on the discussion with the Certification Committee, it has been decided to withhold permissions given to six political advertisements of the INC and the same was already communicated to the all the media. These advertisements pertain to cars, jobs and various ads on farmers.