Punjab's Chief Electoral Officer Directs Registration of FIRs on Complaints Against Kejriwal and Sukhbir Badal for Alleged Model Code Violation

Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer on Saturday directed the registration two separate FIRs in Mohali on complaints lodged against AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal for alleged violation of the model code of code. The orders, issued on the eve of voting in Punjab assembly elections, came on complaints by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akai Dal (SAD) against each other over videos posted on social media.

The AAP has alleged that in the silent period, Badal circulated a video on his Facebook page which consists of his vote appeal with an intent to misguide voters and undue influence the voters. It accused him of violating Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act. SAD leader and advocate Arshdeep Singh Kler, in a complaint lodged with the Election Commission, had objected to a video uploaded by the AAP on social media, alleging it was done to to malign the image of SAD and other political parties in the eyes of the general public.

In a letter to the Mohali district election officer and SSP on the SAD complaint, the office of the Punjab chief electoral officer said no party can put any objectionable videos targeting particular political leaders on any prevalent handles on the internet in view of the model code of conduct, which was enforced on January 8. The office said the video clip has not been approved by the state-level media certification monitoring committee (MCMC). It has come to the notice of this office on February 18 that this video was playing on internet platforms, which is sheer violation of the rule 4.4.2 (B) DONTs (v) of manual on model code of conduct, the office said. In view of the above, you are hereby requested to register an FIR accordingly as per the legal provisions, the letter said.

Meanwhile, on AAP’s complaint, the office of Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer stated, the PR team of office of CEO, has reported that the said media content is still running on the Facebook page of Sukhbir Singh Badal which is in violation of section 126 (1) (b) of Representation of People Act, 1951 as enshrined in chapter 8.3.1 of manual of model conduct of conduct In view of the above, you are hereby requested to register the FIR accordingly as per the legal provisions, stated the letter to the Mohali administration and police. Polling for 117 assembly seats is scheduled to be held on February 20 while counting of votes will take place on March 10.

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