Hyderabad, July 27: The Chief Electoral Officer, Dr I V Subba Rao, on Tuesday clarified that the District Magistrate (Collector) and Sub-Judicial Magistrate (RDO) have powers to stop telecasts of News Channels, if they air content against the Cable Act. He also backed the decision of the Nizamabad RDO for stoppage of News Channels telecasting in Nizamabad.
Speaking to mediapersons in his chamber in the Secretariat, Dr Subba Rao said that the telecasting of News Channels was stopped in Nizamabad as per the order of the District Collector and the RDO. The restriction would be in force till the completion of the polling. The candidates are not supposed to talk to TV Channels and give interviews during the polling. Cases would also be filed against the TV Channels and candidates who violate the law, he warned.
The CEO has claimed that polling was delayed by 10 to 15 minutes at two or three places due to technical snags. “Though we thought that ballot polling would take more time, each ballot voting was taking only 30 to 60 seconds only and the ballot polling was also speedily going on, he added. At a polling station in Vemulawada, the polling was delayed by 10 minutes due to late arrival of polling agents. He pointed out that the mock polling was conducted in the presence of polling agents to ensure transparency.
Dr Subba Rao said that the polling process was also being web cast and here was also online monitoring of the polling process, he said.
——–NSS