Indian polls rules kick in
Modi govt ads blitz dries up after schedule announced
- Leading dailies carried no govt ads yesterday
- Most ads included picture of Modi and highlighted government initiatives
An advertising blitz by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, which saw more than 150 newspaper ads exulting over its performance in 10 days, stopped yesterday, a day after the schedule for the next general election was announced.
The election will be held over seven stages from April 11 in what will be the world's biggest democratic exercise, the Election Commission said on Sunday, when a code of conduct over election campaigning came into force.
Citing the code, the commission said "no advertisements shall be issued in electronic and print media highlighting the achievements of the govt. at the cost of public exchequer".
Leading English-language national dailies including the Times of India, the Hindustan Times and the Indian Express carried no government ads yesterday.
The New Delhi editions of the same three newspapers had 162 government ads between March 1 and March 10, according to Reuters calculations. Of those, 93 were full page.
Most included a picture of Modi and highlighted government initiatives from rural development and solar power to airport infrastructure and social security benefits, among others.
One of the full-page ads took a broad view to highlight 12 achievements in different sectors, saying it was "putting farmers first" and "national security is top priority". It ran with a slogan: "impossible is now possible".
Some people took to Twitter to express their frustration with what they regarded as the excessive advertising.
One user, Dhruv Rathee, last week tweeted a video in which he flipped pages of the Times of India newspaper and said: "Every page you turn has Modi's face on it". The video received nearly 82,000 views.
The Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity, a government agency which coordinates with ministries on government ads, did not respond to a request for comment. Modi's office also did not respond.