“Don’t use photographs of defence personnel for poll campaign” : Election Commission

Taking note of photographs of defence personnel being used in political rallies, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday issued an advisory asking political parties to stop the use of photos of security personnel in their campaign material.

“The Commission accordingly calls upon all the political parties to advise their candidate/leaders to desist from displaying photographs of defence personnel or photographs of functions involving defence personnel in advertisements or otherwise as part of their election propaganda/campaigning,” the poll panel said in the advisory.

The Election Commission said the matter was brought to its notice by Ministry of Defence. “Defence Ministry has brought to the notice of the Commission that photographs of the Defence personnel are being used by the political parties, their leaders and candidates in advertisements as part of their election propaganda and requested the Commission to issue suitable instruction in this regard,” the advisory reads. It also urged all the political parties to ensure strict compliance.