Controversial BJP-sponsored NaMo TV vanishes after Lok Sabha Poll

NEW DELHI: NaMo TV, a BJP-sponsored channel that publicised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies and other poll messages, has gone off air, party sources said.nnThey said it went off air on May 17 when all campaigns for the Lok Sabha election came to an end.nnA BJP leader, requesting anonymity, said, “NaMo TV was meant as a tool of BJP campaign for the Lok Sabha election. With the polls over, it is no longer needed, so effectively from May 17, when all campaign has ended, it has also gone off air.”nnThe channel was mired in controversy ever since it went on air.nnThe chief electoral officer of Delhi had sent a notice to the BJP for “airing election-related content” on NaMo TV even after the silence period began, but the party had said they did not violate the model code of conduct.nnIn April, after the Election Commission had directed that all recorded programmes displayed on NaMo TV be pre-certified, the Delhi poll body asked the BJP not to air any content on the platform without its certification.nnThe chief electoral office in Delhi had also said since NaMo TV was sponsored by the BJP, all recorded programmes displayed on the platform be pre-certified by media certification and monitoring committee of Delhi and all political publicity contents displayed without pre-certification be removed immediately.nnThe commission had issued a notice seeking a report from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on NaMo TV, launched just weeks ahead of the general election, after opposition parties, including the Congress, asked the poll body to direct the ministry to suspend the channel in violation of the poll code.nnSource: Press Trust of India