The poll panel issued a notification prohibiting the publication of exit-poll projections in any print and electronic media will be prohibited from 8 am on November 12 and 5 pm on December 5.

New Delhi Mar 25 PTI The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on an appeal by former Congress MLA Arif Naseem Khan challenging the Bombay High Court order dismissing his petition challenging the election of his rival Shiv Sena MLA in 2019A bench of justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh sought response from MLA Dilip Bhausaheb Lande and others within six weeksIssue notice returnable in six weeks the bench saidKhan in his appeal filed in the top court contended that the high court dismissed his plea in an arbitrary and unjustified mannerSenior advocate C A Sundaram and advocate Chirag M Shroff appeared for KhanKhan contended that there were certain concocted and doctored videos of him which Lande deliberately circulated on WhatsApp portraying him as a radical Muslim leader The petitioners speech was deliberately and dishonestly manipulated with a view to show the petitioner to be anti-national the plea saidHe had further claimed that members of Shiv Sena including its chief Uddhav Thackeray had violated the model code of conduct by the Election Commission and addressed audiences within the prohibited period of 48 hoursThe impugned judgment has erred in dismissing the election petition on the basis that there is no nexus made between the doctored videos of the petitioner and the returned candidate The merits of the same should be adjudicated at the time of appreciation of evidence and not while assessing if the petition prima facie has cause of action In the light of the same the high court has erred in ignoring the contraventions of Section 126 and Section 1001div of the Representation of the People Act and dismissing the Petition for the alleged lack of material facts apropos a distinct cause of action the appeal in the top court said PTI PKS ZMN

Chandigarh Feb 19 PTI Punjabs Chief Electoral Officer on Saturday directed the registration two separate FIRs in Mohali on complaints lodged against AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal for alleged violation of the model code of codeThe orders issued on the eve of voting in Punjab assembly elections came on complaints by Aam Aadmi Party AAP and Shiromani Akai Dal SAD against each other over videos posted on social media The AAP has alleged that in the silent period Badal circulated a video on his Facebook page which consists of his vote appeal with an intent to misguide voters and undue influence the voters It accused him of violating Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act SAD leader and advocate Arshdeep Singh Kler in a complaint lodged with the Election Commission had objected to a video uploaded by the AAP on social media alleging it was done to to malign the image of SAD and other political parties in the eyes of the general public In a letter to the Mohali district election officer and SSP on the SAD complaint the office of the Punjab chief electoral officer said no party can put any objectionable videos targeting particular political leaders on any prevalent handles on the internet in view of the model code of conduct which was enforced on January 8 The office said the video clip has not been approved by the state-level media certification monitoring committee MCMC It has come to the notice of this office on February 18 that this video was playing on internet platforms which is sheer violation of the rule 442 B DONTs v of manual on model code of conduct the office said In view of the above you are hereby requested to register an FIR accordingly as per the legal provisions the letter said Meanwhile on AAPs complaint the office of Punjabs Chief Electoral Officer stated the PR team of office of CEO has reported that the said media content is still running on the Facebook page of Sukhbir Singh Badal which is in violation of section 126 1 b of Representation of People Act 1951 as enshrined in chapter 831 of manual of model conduct of conduct In view of the above you are hereby requested to register the FIR accordingly as per the legal provisions stated the letter to the Mohali administration and policePolling for 117 assembly seats is scheduled to be held on February 20 while counting of votes will take place on March 10PTI CHS VSD RT RT