Left Front complains to poll panel on paid news
May 4th, 2011 - 11:17 pm ICT by IANSKolkata, May 4 (IANS) West Bengal’s ruling Left Front Wednesday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission that a section of media was playing a partisan role and publishing “paid news”.
“We have attached a copy of an article published in a vernacular daily, in which it was reported that the Trinamool Congress leadership has finalised the names of the proposed ministers and their portfolios. The item of the news was motivated and completely unusual before the completion of polls,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose said in the complaint.
“The news item is completely planted and written in a planned manner to influence the voters for the next two phases of the state assembly elections. It is evident that the news is nothing but paid news. We demand immediate action from your end to conduct free and fair elections in the state,” the complaint said.
State Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kumar Gupta said: “We have received a complaint from the Left Front in this regard and forwarded it to the office in New Delhi for their consideration.”
The six-phase state assembly polls began April 18, and so far 242 of the 294 assembly constituencies have gone to the hustings in four rounds.
The next round is slated for Saturday and the final phase on May 10. The votes will be counted May 13.
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Tags: assembly constituencies, assembly elections, chief electoral officer, congress leadership, election commission, final phase, gupta, hustings, New Delhi, news item, portfolios, regard, state assembly polls, trinamool congress, west bengal