Poll malpractice will be dealt with strictly

“In view of the upcoming assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry, the Election Commission of India (ECI) will treat reports of media on election malpractices as formal complaints,’’ said director general (DG) of ECI, Akshay Rout.

He was speaking at the concluding ceremony of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) here on Thursday.

Rout was addressing a session on media policy and regulation in the context of the general elections.

Veteran film-maker Basu Chatterjee was the chief guest for the inaugural session. Noted cinematographer and president of Graduates of FTII (GRAFTII) RM Rao was also present along with FTII’s acting director Iftekhar Ahmed.

Rout added, “The Indian media is the strength of the ECI. However, it is not giving much importance to voters’ education and is only focusing on hard news. Moreover, paid news is a complete menace for elections and it has an undue influence on voters.

“On March 9, all political parties called for stronger measures against paid news and wanted the EC to take up the issue with media houses for formulating a code of conduct. Restrictions on political advertisements prior 48 hours of election are applicable to electronic media, one can see full-fledged political advertisements in newspapers. This loophole needs to be checked,’’ he added.

Veteran film-maker Basu Chatterjee shared a special anecdote on his FTII connection. “While making my first film Sara Akash, I decided to cast actors and technicians from FTII. I had selected student Jaya Bhaduri (now Jaya Bachchan). The then director Jagat Murari told me that Jaya won’t be allowed to work in a film till she completes her education. So I had to cast another actress,’’ he said.