The Election Commission has ordered removal of pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu from the website of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna as they were “violative” of the model code following which they were taken off.
The website accessed this evening had no pictures of Modi or Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Naidu.
Acting on a complaint that the pictures on the website are promoting BJP in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly polls are on, the Commission said that “depiction of photographs of Prime Minister and ministers…is in violation of model code of conduct and hence such photographs shall have to be immediately removed from the official website (pmaymis.gov.in).”
The poll watchdog also sought to know from Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha “the reason as to why this was not done before, when the model code was in force (since January 4)”.
It also asked the top bureaucrat to “ensure” that websites of other ministries and departments do not contain such photographs.
It recalled its earlier directions that references of ministers and politicians be removed from central government websites to ensure that the party in power does not get advantage of any kind in the assembly elections.
While polls are over in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa, they are on in Uttar Pradesh and are to be held in Manipur.