Malicious ad campaign misses officials' eye in Punjab

Feb 3, 2007, 4:15 GMT

Chandigarh, Feb 3 (IANS) As the Congress and the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine prepare to fight it out for 117 assembly seats, both sides are running a no-holds barred advertising campaign against each other.

The fine print of some words like 'shameless liar', 'wanted for corruption', 'thief', 'murderer', 'cheat', 'liar', 'failed chief minister', 'aish (enjoyment) and cash government', 'chooza' (chick), 'baloongra' (kitten) and 'cowards' may not be part of a democratic tradition but definitely the in-thing in Punjab's heated up poll scene.

The political battle is also being fought through newspapers with demeaning advertisements being served to readers daily.

The sinister campaign is taking place right under the so-called 'watchful eyes' of the Election Commission, which has so far refrained from taking any action in this matter.

'We have seen the advertisements that both sides have given against each other. But these were prior to Dec 29 when the election code came into force,' Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami said here last month when asked what the poll panel was doing about these campaigns.

After holding back the advertisements against each other for a few days, the Congress and the Akalis are back to hitting below the belt - and still the Election Commission seems to be doing nothing about it.

Commission officials here said the ad campaign had been forwarded to their headquarters in New Delhi and its orders were awaited.

Both sides are spending millions of rupees on their ad campaigns that dominate pages of all national, regional and vernacular dailies circulated in Punjab.

The defamatory content of these advertisements is such that leading newspapers have started inserting disclaimers daily, clearly stating that they have nothing to do with the offensive content.

The leading parties were inserting advertisements in regional TV channels and local cable networks to reach out to the most number of people.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's media adviser B.I.S. Chahal - said to be behind the controversial advertisements that first appeared in newspapers in the 2002 assembly poll against the Akalis - is behind the Congress ad campaign this time.

The Akali charge is headed by party president Parkash Singh Badal's son, Sukhbir Badal.

Akali sources say that Sukhbir personally clears and monitors all advertisements and also the ads that counter the other side.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service