The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday took on the Bharatiya Janata Party for its front page advertisement in various newspapers listing the achievements of the Narendra Modi government and asking people to vote for it in the assembly polls on Saturday, saying it is violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
“Today Delhi has seen that every paper has a front page advertisement given by the BJP. In my opinion this is clear-cut violation of the EC guidelines and the Model Code of Conduct,” AAP leader Ashutosh told reporters.
“My question is that if such ads are not allowed on TV after the campaigning process has ended, why should they be allowed in newspapers? The law should change. If widely circulated papers carry such ads then it will certainly influence minds of people,” he said.
Ashutosh also took to Twitter to question the BJP's source of funding behind these advertisements.
“From where BJP gets money to give front page AD in every newspaper. These ADs are most expensive and costly,” he said in a tweet.
“Every paper in Delhi is carrying front page BJP AD. What is the source of money? AAP's fight is Ag money power,” said Ashutosh in another tweet.
Responding to the allegations, BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha said, “AAP's claim that the advertisement is violation of poll code, I believe is ignorance from their side. Either they do not know about the law or Model Code of Conduct or they are making such statements deliberately to remain in news.”
“The ad just talks about the positive agenda of BJP which the party wants the public to know. There is no violation of any kind. Such ads can be given till the day of polling,” he added.
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari also slammed the advertisement saying, “It is very evident that the PM seems to be very keen to demote himself from PM to CM, otherwise why would they give these fanciful ads recounting all the non-work done by the BJP government in the last eight months.”
“One one hand you say that Delhi elections are not a referendum on the performance of the central government and on other hand you come up with an advertisement which lists out the imaginary work done by the government. The ad makes you wonder whether PM Modi has decided to voluntarily demote himself to the Chief Ministership of Delhi,” he told reporters.
He, however, said that it is for the Election Commission to decide whether the advertisement has violated the code of conduct or not.
“There is no bar on political parties giving advertisements during elections but recounting achievements of Central government when the model code is in force may not be technically a violation but in essence it is because eventually you are trying to have an impact on voters,” he said.
