MUMBAI: The BJP has assured the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) that only pre-authorised content will air on NaMo TV and it has submitted the channel's content for certification. The order comes a few days after the Election Commission (EC) directed that all recorded programmes displayed on NaMo TV be pre-certified.

The compliance report was submitted a day after the EC wrote to the Delhi CEO stating that since NaMo TV is BJP-sponsored and without prior certification, all content was to be “removed immediately”.

A senior official at the Delhi CEO’s office told The Indian Express, “We issued directions to the BJP regarding certification on Thursday night itself and have ordered that content be removed from NaMo TV today. The circular is being complied with. The application for certification of future content is under consideration.”

The EC direction on Thursday had come a day after the BJP admitted that the NaMo App, of which NaMo TV is a part, was run by its IT Cell.

“As NaMo TV/Content TV is sponsored by a political party, all recorded programmes of political contents displayed on the channel/platform would be covered under the purview of the Commission’s order dated 15 April 2004 issued in pursuance of the Order dated 13 April 2004 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Vs. M/s Gemini TV (2004) 5 SCC 714. Accordingly, all political advertisements and all recorded programmes with political contents are mandatorily required to be pre-certified by the MCMC before telecasting/displaying,” the EC had stated in its order to Delhi CEO on Thursday.

The EC’s 15 April 2004 order requires that applications for certification of ads by political parties headquartered in Delhi be made to the MCMC at least three days before the ad is to be telecast. The applications must also include the cost of production, the cost of telecast and whether the ad is for the benefit of the political party or candidate.