The Election Commission has done well to disqualify the Uttar Pradesh MLA and wife of D P Yadav, Umlesh Yadav, for three years. The Press Council of India, which had earlier looked into the complaint of Yogendra Kumar, who had unsuccessfully contested against her in April 2007, had found her guilty of violating the Representation of the People Act. She had paid money to two major Hindi newspapers to have favourable reports published in them. Though the papers had written ‘Advt’ at the bottom corner of the ‘reports’, they looked like news reports. Advertisements that masquerade as news are called ‘paid news’, a relatively new phenomenon in Indian journalism. In the case of Yadav, who contested on the Rashtriya Parivartan Dal’s ticket, she did not include the `21,250 she spent on the advertisements in her election expenditure.
One of the first acts of an elected legislator is to submit an account of the money spent on his/her election. Often, the figures they submit to the Election Commission are fudged. In other words, they begin their legislative career with a fraudulent act. As the commission itself has pointed out, the disqualification may appear harsh but then allowance has to be made for the fact that then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was disqualified by the Allahabad High Court for a minor lapse — she had used the services of a government employee for her election campaign.
Yadav’s disqualification should serve as a warning to all political parties. She just happens to be the first to fall in the trap of ‘paid news’. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has been facing charges that he had paid money to various newspapers to publish favourable reports during the last Assembly elections. The commission is yet to give its verdict on the complaints against him which are all well-documented and authenticated. Political parties should discourage the likes of Yadav who misuse their money power to win elections. Media organisations deceive their readers and viewers when they publish or telecast ‘paid news’ which is against all the ethics of journalism.