BJP TV ad against Cong over terror banned

New Delhi, Nov 18 (UNI) In what is seen as a major setback to the BJP days ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, the Delhi Election Commission today banned the party's TV advertisement taking potshots at the Congress over terrorism and the Jamia encounter.

The three-member committee constituted by the DEC after watching the advertisement, which was to be aired on TV, found that it blatantly violated para one of the Model Code of Conduct, which prohibits any party to target another, so it was appropriate to place a ban on it, said DEC officials.

The one-minute advertisement had earlier been banned by the DEC and the saffron party had approached the court against the decision.

The court after perusing the petition had asked the DEC to reconsider its decision.

The advertisement, which started with the line 'Congress has chosen its votebank over our lives', alleged that the Jamia funds were used to defend the accused in the Batla House encounter case.

It also touched upon, among others, issues like the hanging of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, repealing of TADA and the Amarnath 'discord'.

The advertisement ends with 'Now it is your turn to choose Congress, at what cost?' Talking to UNI after the DEC's decision, DPCC president J P Aggarwal said, '' We had some genuine objections to the advertisemnt and we are happy and satisfied that the poll panel has banned it.'' BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley, meanwhile, expressed his displeasure over the decision, terming it ''regrettable'' and said the poll panel should not go by any ideology.

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