The Election Commission of Pakistan has directed the Pakistan Electronic Regulatory Authority to issue a warning to the GEO News and the ARY News channels for continuously violating the Code of Conduct for the national media.
According to a spokesperson of the commission, the said news channels, despite clear instructions from the ECP, aired statements and interviews of political leaders live.
The commission, in its letter to the PEMRA, instructed the regulator to take action against the channels, including closure of their transmissions, if they continue violating the code of conduct.
It may be added that since midnight of the Tuesday last, there has been a complete ban on the election campaign, advertisements, and other written material on the electronic and the print media under Section 182 of the Elections Act 2017 and ECP’s Code of Conduct for national media.
However, a fewer channels are continuously violating this restriction and the Election Commission can take action against the violators under Section 10 of the Elections Act 2017.