Telangana Assembly Elections: Chief Electoral Officer Directs BRS, BJP & Congress to Withdraw Ads

The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (Telangana) has asked major political parties in the state to withdraw certain political advertisements due to violations of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) rules and regulations.

A letter from the CEO (Telangana) was sent to the Congress, BJP, and BRS in the state, urging them to retract specific political advertisements.

“All parties agreed to abide by the decision of the certification committee to cancel the approvals given to advertisements mentioned below and gave assurance that these issues will not be repeated again,” the letter stated.

The CEO has specifically called for the withdrawal of 15 advertisements that were found to be in violation of MCMC rules. The letter emphasized the decision to withdraw or withhold permissions for the mentioned political advertisements of the Indian National Congress party, BJP, and BRS. This directive has been communicated to all editors of electronic media and social media channels, instructing them not to telecast these political advertisements with immediate effect.

Earlier, on November 12, the state-level certification committee had mandated all channels and social media platforms to cancel approved political advertisements, citing violations of MCMC rules. Telangana is gearing up for assembly elections on November 30, with the counting of votes, along with four other poll-bound states, scheduled for December 3.

The state is poised for a triangular contest among the BJP, BRS, and Congress. In the previous 2018 Assembly election, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), secured victory with 88 out of 119 seats, capturing 47.4% of the total vote share, while the Congress trailed with just 19 seats.