EC notice to Railways, Civil Aviation ministries on MCC

The Election Commission on Tuesday pulled up the Railways Ministry and the Civil Aviation Ministry for "non-compliance" and "lackadaisical approach" towards the model code of conduct and directed them to take disciplinary action against those responsible for poll code violations including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture on tickets and the slogan 'main bhi chowkidar' on tea cups.

The poll panel asked the ministries to submit an action-taken report each within a week.

In another letter, the EC also directed the Railways Ministry and the IRCTC look into the matter of paper cups bearing the Bharatiya Janata Party's slogan used in trains to serve tea and asked them to submit a report by Thursday so it could decide if it was a poll code violation.

The issues came to limelight after images of advertisements on Air India flight tickets carrying pictures of the Prime Minister started doing the rounds on social media. Soon after, another picture of a tea cup with BJP's slogan 'main bhi chowkidar' being used on a train went viral.

"The commission expresses its considered displeasure over the non-compliance of the commission's instructions especially when the Model Code of Conduct is in force and the lackadaisical approach towards enforcing the Code.

"The commission has also decided that disciplinary action be taken against the officer incharge and a report be submitted to the Election Commission within a week," the poll panel said.

--IANS

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