Youth Cong prez on poll panel radar for indulging in paid news

With Assembly polls in Punjab on the threshold, the Congress seems to be topping the list of candidates indulging in paid news in newspapers.

President of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, a Congress candidate from Gidderbaha Assembly seat, has been blamed on maximum counts by the Election Commission (EC) for indulging in paid news.

The 39-year old MLA has been involved in issuing paid news in the print media five times. The Press Council of India has defined paid news as any news or analysis appearing in any media (print and electronic) for a price in cash or kind as consideration.

The EC has as on date certified 16 cases as paid news while 26 are under scrutiny out of the 46 total suspected cases of paid news that have come to the fore so far.

The Congress has nine certified paid news cases, while the ruling Akali Dal has only one.

Three candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party, too, have indulged in paid news till date. No BJP candidate has been found guilty of such practice.

In the 2012 Assembly elections, the state saw a whopping 523 cases. There are a few newspapers that are making sure that they broadcast their credentials as a newspaper that does not indulge in paid news content. Warring became the president of the IYC in December 2014, two years after he defeated former Punjab Finance Minister and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s estranged nephew Manpreet Singh Badal from Gidderbaha assembly seat.

Meanwhile, as on Monday drugs worth Rs 9.2 crore have been confiscated from Punjab ever since the model code of conduct came into play.

“Gold worth Rs 21.52 crore, liquor worth Rs 1.2 crore and cash over Rs 4 crore has been seized by the EC,” the officials said on Monday.
DH News Service