EC can’t make up its mind

The Supreme Court today said it may have to consider slanderous advertisements, encouraged by political parties, as an electoral offence. Th...

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The Supreme Court today said it may have to consider slanderous advertisements, encouraged by political parties, as an electoral offence. The court was replying to the EC’s appeal for time till Thursday to formulate guidelines to monitor the ban on such ads, a move many believe reflects differences on the issue among the election commissioners.

‘‘We do not want any dirt or dust on the electronic media. The position of the EC is vital for holding proper elections,’’ the court said, asking the EC to submit the guideline by Thursday. ‘‘We do not want one political party to remark against the other…one leader to remark against the other if it is political mudslinging.’’ The court warned that it intends to make political mudslinging an ‘‘electoral offence’’, meaning anybody guilty could be disqualified even after being elected from his or her constituency. The court has also made the Solicitor-General a member of the EC team formulating the guideline.

However, EC officials were surprised at the appeal for time as the blueprint for monitoring political ads was ready by Saturday evening. This gave rise to doubts that last-minute differences had cropped up between Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami and Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy. Sources said the CEC was in favour of banning political ads — especially surrogate advertisement — reduced to mudslinging among political parties. He also felt that it weighed against the less-rich political parties that couldn’t afford such ads. But Gopalaswami is said to have opposed the move on ground that the parties in a democracy have a right to expression. The two are also known to differ on whether or not an all-party meet should be called for a broad consensus on poll-related issues. However, an all-party meeting has been called tomorrow.

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Sources in the government said the EC is under pressure. The Law Ministry is opposed to the idea of giving the Commission 10 day s for vetting political ads before they are aired. ‘‘The time can be reduced to five days, if the political parties feel that 10 days will eat into the campaign time and will not leave much scope to air them before polling,’’ an EC source said.

The Andhra Pradesh HC had allowed telecast of political ads by staying rule 7(3) of Cable TV Network Act, 1995. The elections, the SC on Friday banned telecast of all such political ads.