Amid complaints from a number of people that they were not able to watch NaMo Gujarat, the TV channel that went on air Thursday, District Collector Vijay Nehra Friday said he had not issued any orders to take the channel off air.
Nehra also said there was no such direction to him from the Election Commission.
No official from the Gujarat Telelink Private Limited, which provides the service for the channel, was available for comment.
Nehra said he had met cable and FM radio operators to explain to them the model code of conduct as also the media certification and monitoring committee (MCMC) to regulate the advertisements as per guidelines of the Election Committee in pursuance of the Supreme Court orders.
MCMC has already collected rate cards for advertisements of different newspapers, magazines, TV channels and radio to ensure that the candidates were not able to hide their expenditure. He said each candidate is allowed an expenditure of Rs 16 lakh only but there is no limit on expenditure made by a party.
PM, Sonia, Rahul to campaign in Gujarat
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will be among the Congress' “star campaigners” in Gujarat, state party chief Arjun Modhwadia said. Sonia and Rahul are likely to address five public meetings each across Gujarat while the PM will address three or four meetings, he said. The venues are yet to be decided. Modhwadia said the list of “star campaigners” would be submitted to the Election Commission within a week.
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