Punjab Post Daily Online Newspaper & Print Media
Amritsar, January 8 (Punjab Post Bureau)- The Election commission of India has issued fresh guidelines regarding
the use of video vans for campaigning in Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections 2017, under which the Permission for video-vans to be used by a political party for campaign purpose would be granted at Chief Electoral Officer level only. Transport Nodal Officer must submit certificate to the Chief Electoral Officer that the video van is in conformity with the Motor Vehicle Act.
District Election Officer, Mr. Basant Garg said that the contents of material for election publicity on the view-van shall be pre-certified from MCMCs. The video van of the political party should be used to propagate its programme and policies to seek votes; however, if it is used for seeking votes/support for a candidate/candidates then expenditure of video van shall be accounted for by such candidate/candidates appropriately.
As per these guidelines any party/candidate seeking permission to use video vans from Chief Electoral Officer should first obtain necessary permission/no objection certificate from the Competent Authority under the Motor Vehicle Act. This certification is required to ensure the conformity with the Motor Vehicle Act/relevant provisions of law and Court orders, if any on this subject for plying of video vans on the road. Though there is no restriction on the number of video vans which can be used in a campaign, but the expenditure for it shall be included in the Election Expenditure Account of the party.
He also said that the route of video vans to be used for publicity/campaigning should be informed to local administration/District Election Officer in advance.
Besides that to avoid any inconvenience to the general public/commuters during road show, Prior permission for road shows shall be taken from the Competent Authority. In order to avoid inconvenience to general public, as far as possible, road shows, subject to court orders and local laws, should be permitted only on holidays and during non-peak hours on routs other than that having big hospitals, trauma centers, blood banks and heavily crowded markets. Number of vehicles and persons joining for road show shall be intimated in advance. The convoy of vehicles being used in road show shall be broken after every 10 vehicles and a gap of 200 meters would be maintained.
Safety of public and persons in the road show shall be ensured. Busting of fire crackers and carrying of the arms shall not be permitted at all. The maximum size of banner that may be used would be 6 X 4 feet.
