Election Commission issues showcause notice to Ashok Chavan for paid news
Mumbai: The Election Commission on Sunday asked former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan why he shouldn’t be disqualified for failing to “lodge his account of election expenses” in the prescribed manner. He has been given 20 days to reply. The EC held that Mr Chavan didn’t show the cost of 25 newspaper ads in his poll expenses during the 2009 state polls.
Mr Chavan, however, claimed he had got a respite in the “paid news” matter as the EC held the news items cannot be held to be promoting or procuring Mr Chavan’s own election from Bhokar constituency. The EC gave its order on complaints against Mr Chavan that he incurred huge expenditure on “paid news” items. Complaints filed alleged that the expense on the publication of these “paid news” items was not included in his expenses account.
