New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan urged on Wednesday the Election Commission of India to conduct a probe on paid news ahead of the State Assembly elections, slated later this year.
He alleged that the 'paid news' are being circulated by the opposition parties to malign the image of his government. He further requested that paid news be defined clearly so that all cases related to this must be investigated correctly and related expenditure be added to candidates' or party's expenses specifically.
A five-member delegation led by the chief minister met the Chief Election Commissioner, OP Rawat, on Wednesday here and also requested for single permission for star campaigners across the state for election period instead of district, provision of display board outside booths to display updated voter percentage and number of male and female voters every two hours and not to include expense of party stickers or flags put by residents voluntarily in candidates' expenditure.
The delegation also submitted a memorandum to the ECI, which further accused the oppositions of creating an environment of confusion through falsehood propaganda, complaints and baseless allegations related to elections.
"The Opposition had recently complained of 60 lakh fake voters which were found baseless upon investigation. Such false complaints impact the image of the state and prestige of the Election Commission," the chief minister claimed.
Apart from the CM, BJP in-charge of Madhya Pradesh and the party's vice president Vinay Sahastrabuddhe, state minister Vishvas Sarang, co-coordinator EC for the party in MP Babusingh Raghuvanshi and the state Election Commission member SS Uppal were also part of the delegation.