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Poll panel disqualifies MP minister over paid news
The Election Commission has disqualified Madhya Pradesh Water and Irrigation Minister Narottam Mishra for not disclosing the expenditure he had incurred on the paid news that was carried in local media during State assembly elections in 2008.
New Delhi: The Election Commission has disqualified Madhya Pradesh Water and Irrigation Minister Narottam Mishra for not disclosing the expenditure he had incurred on the paid news that was carried in local media during State assembly elections in 2008.
The Commission, which on Friday also said that Mishra would remain disqualified from contesting election for three years, said it was concerned about the "menace of paid news" which has been assuming "alarming proportions" in the electoral landscape.
This phenomenon, a manifestation of the "pernicious effect of money in elections", has been growing increasingly vicious and "spreading like cancer", in recent time, it said. The Commission noted that Mishra had "not only knowingly submitted a false account of expenses, but also attempted to circumvent the legally prescribed limit on expenditure".
Disqualifying Mishra for three years, it said: "Such attempts need to be curbed with strong measures and visited with exemplary sanctions and restore the balance in the electoral playing field. Therefore, the commission is of the considered view and hold that Mishra should be disqualified under Section 10(A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951."
