Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday filed a complaint to the Election Commission of India (ECI) against recently launched NAMO TV, which covers Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaigns live.
In a letter to the ECI, the AAP has asked if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) approached the Media Certification committee for approval.
"Did BJP approach the Media Certification committee established to certify the contents of the telecast and cost of the telecast? If not, why show cause not issued for the violation of MCC?" the AAP letter stated.
The BJP on Sunday announced the launch of the new television channel NaMo TV, with PM Modi's picture on its logo, on multiple direct to home (DTH) platforms as part of its voter outreach. The channel, which will live telecast Narendra Modi's campaign for the general election, is available on major DTH platforms-Dish TV, Tata Sky, Siti and Airtel.
"Capture the colours of elections. Watch the dance of democracy. Say NaMo again with NaMo TV. Tune in to get real-time coverage of PM Modi's election campaign and a lot more fascinating content," the BJP had tweeted after the launch of the new television channel.
Also Read: The curious case of NaMo TV: Now, owner puts domain namotv.com up for sale
The AAP letter stated that the Supreme Court in its various judgements has held that there needs to be a "Level Playing Field" for all the political parties and the commission is entrusted with the duty to maintain the same among all the parties.
But defying this, the BJP has launched a 24 hours channel "NAMO TV", the party added.
"Can permission be granted to a party to have their own TV channel even after the model code of conduct is enforced? If no permission was sought by ECI then what action has been taken?" the APP asked in its letter.
Also Read: Is Namo TV really a licensed TV channel?
The Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 10, after the Election Commission announced the dates for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
A Congress delegation led by Kapil Sibal also met the Election Commission over a few issues including the misuse of Doordarshan by BJP in broadcasting certain speeches made by PM Modi and use of a particular channel which has come up and has logo of 'NAMO', ANI has reported.
The Election Commission is currently examining the letter, the poll panel's spokesperson quoted as saying this.
Edited by Chitranjan Kumar