Yet another trouble! NaMo TV cannot air any political content without certification, rules EC
New Delhi, Apr 12: Two weeks ago, Mysteriously appeared “NaMo TV” on private DTH networks gave birth to controversy theories in electoral politics. The various accusations by oppositions started. To ruled this issue out, the Election Commission on Thursday informed the Chief electoral officer of Delhi that all content on NaMo TV needs to be cleared by the poll panel's Media Certification and Monitoring Committee before being aired.
The NaMo TV is The 24-hour channel has been promoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The letter by poll panel to Delhi CEO stated, “ it has been confirmed by you that there has been any pre-certification of the content being displayed on NaMo TV/Content TV by MCMC Committee in your office”.
Further, the letter added, “any political publicity content, being displayed on electronic media without requisite certification from competent authority should be removed immediately and any political content shall only be permitted strictly in accordance with EC instructions in this regard”.
The order states that all recorded programmes of political contents displayed on the channel/platform will be covered under an earlier directive as "NaMo TV/Content TV is sponsored by a political party. As per the earlier directive, all political advertisements and all recorded programmes with political content are compulsorily required to be pre-certified by the media monitoring committee before the telecast.
The EC asked the Delhi CEO to ensure that all political content, which has been aired without previous certification, be immediately removed.
The poll panel has also asked the officer for a compliance report on an urgent basis.
The poll panel on Wednesday had barred the release of PM Modi's biopic till election period, stating any such film that subserves the purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media.
On this issue, BJP IT head Amit Malviya said, “ NaMo TV is part of the NaMo app, which is a digital property owned and run by it”. In its reply to the EC, the CEO office said they had received a request from the BJP to pre-certify the content.
