EC issues notice to K’taka govt over advertising its welfare progs in TS newspapers

Hyderabad: The Election Commission recently ordered the Karnataka government to stop giving advertisements about its welfare schemes in Telangana newspapers. It issued a notice to the Chief Secretary of the State Government on Monday night seeking an explanation on the statements made so far.

Earlier, BJP leaders Prakash Javadekar, Sunil Bansal, Tarun Chugh, Sudhanshu Trivedi have criticized the actions of the Karnataka government. They complained to the EC to register a criminal case under Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act against the CM and Ministers of that state.

Responding to the complaint of the BJP leaders, ECI General Secretary ordered to stop the advertisements in the Telangana newspapers immediately. Notices have been sent to the Karnataka CS to give an answer before 5 pm on Tuesday as to why the election rules were violated. According to the EC rules, the governments of the non-polling states and the Centre should not make announcements about their welfare programmes in the polling states.