Election Commission bars NaMo TV from airing “political content” immediately

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]LECTION Commission (EC) yesterday issued a notice against NaMo TV and stopped the channel from airing political content without verification.  The EC said that any political content displayed on electronic media without the requisite certification should be removed immediately as per the Model Code of Conduct is in place.

The EC, in its notice, addressed to the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer, said that "any political publicity material/contents, being displayed on electronic media without the requisite certification from a competent authority (MCMC in this case) should be removed immediately".

The EC confirmed that platform service channel – NaMo TV/Content TV –  was being offered by DTH operators for the Bharatiya Janata Party on a "paid basis" and its content had not been given any pre-certification by any competent authority.   

The EC asserted that NaMo TV was sponsored by a political party and all its recorded programmes of political contents displayed on the channel platform would be covered under the Model Code of Conduct.

Questions which still remained unanswered

While the Election Commission has barred the NaMo TV from airing, there are some key questions that remain unanswered:

• Who owns NaMo TV?
• Who paid the money to the DTH operators?
• Is this money related to the BJP or to Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
• How did the Ministry of Information & Broadcast not stop the channel from using satellites for want of a security clearance?