Election Commission rules not applicable to Ravi Prakash?

May 13

EC rules not applicable to Ravi Prakash?

Popular news anchor and founder-chief executive officer of TV9 television channel Ravi Prakash, who is now back in the limelight with his latest digital channel RTV, seems to be considering himself above the rules and regulations of the Election Commission of India.

This was evident from the way Ravi Prakash conducted pre-election survey in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

He predicted the complete route of Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana, while the defeat of the YSR Congress party led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh.

Not only that RTV aired a full-fledged interview on Sunday with noted election strategist and founder of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) Prashant Kishor, who vehemently attacked Jagan and predicted that the YSRCP would lose by a huge margin, with its numbers in the assembly coming down from 151 to 51.

The election surveys and the interview with Prashant Kishor a day before the polling amount to clear violation of model code of conduct laid down by ECI. Naturally, the YSRCP lodged a complaint with the Commission in this regard.

In the complaint, YSRCP leader and MLA Malladi Vishnu said the interview with Prashant Kishore was in violation of the Representation of Peoples Act (RP) and other provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

It was not a genuine news item, but was aired for the sole purpose of influencing voters at the crucial time of the ensuing elections as the polling date is approaching.

Further, the telecast was in blatant violation of Section 126 of the RP Act wherein there is an express prohibition on display of election matters to the public, he said.

“Prashanth Kishore expressing his opinion on the election one day before polling was nothing but a part of the criminal conspiracy, strategy or connivance of TDP and its supreme Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Ravi Prakash and their associates,” Vishnu said.

He said the interviewer designed the questions in the manner to stage opinions of Prashanth Kishore being specifically against YSRC. Ravi Prakash has instigated interviewee into making various statements only to influence voters.