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Journalism of Courage
In a move that is likely to act as a deterrent against the menace of paid news in all future elections,the Election Commission on Thursday disqualified Umlesh Yadav,a sitting MLA from Bisauli in Uttar Pradesh,and also barred her from being member of any legislature in the country for the next three years.
The action came in the form of a 23-page order signed by all the three Election Commissioners. It was taken on grounds that Umlesh Yadav,wife of BSP leader D P Yadav,had provided false information on her election expenditure incurred on advertisement published during the 2007 assembly elections in two Hindi dailies.
The issue was brought to the notice of the EC in April last year after the Press Council of India (PCI) passed its judgment on a complaint filed by one Yogendra Kumar against the two dailies Dainik Jagran and Amar Ujala for publishing paid news on eve of assembly election for Bisauli. Kumar had complained that paid news items were published just a day before polling in favour of Umlesh Yadav,who was contesting as a Rashtriya Privartan Dal candidate.
Both newspapers challenged the allegation and asserted that the said item was an advertisement (ADVT) as mentioned at the bottom of the said article and also furnished bills for it. The format of impugned material was such that it would appear as a news report to the layman…. The act was not only unethical by journalistic standards but also in violation of election laws, PCI had said.
Based on PCIs ruling,the EC had held the said items as paid news and sought details of Umlesh Yadavs poll expenditure from the District Election Officer. It was then found the expenditure on the said paid news was not clear from the account submitted by her.
In response to a notice from the EC,Yadav denied issuing the advertisement. In their replies,the dailies furnished details of the bills issued in the name of D P Yadav,the then chief of Rashtriya Parivartan Dal,who merged his party with BSP in 2008. After further examining the issue,the EC concluded that Umlesh Yadav had failed to lodge her account of election expenditure in the manner required by law.
