HYDERABAD: It has been nearly three weeks since the schedule for municipal polls was announced by the State Election Commission (SEC). This means that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has been in force across Telangana since then.
However, a majority of the official websites of the State government continue to display photographs of Telangana Chief Minister, Ministers, MLAs and other elected representatives, despite the poll code mandating otherwise.
The SEC, while issuing the poll schedule on December 23, 2019, had announced that the MCC too came into force with immediate effect. As per the poll code issued by the SEC, all references to people’s representatives, including the Prime Minister, Chief Minister, politicians and political parties, available on Central or State government websites must be taken down immediately after the MCC comes into force.
Meanwhile, the State government departments which continue display photographs of the people’s representatives include: Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Roads and Buildings Department, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, Commissionerate of Industries, Labour Department, Forest Department, Finance Department, Irrigation and Command Area Development, and others.The SEC officials said that they would direct the concerned departments to take down the photographs. If the authorities fail to do so, the SEC would take action against them.