In light of the elections, photos of ministers from the ruling party cannot be displayed on government websites. (File Photo) In light of the elections, photos of ministers from the ruling party cannot be displayed on government websites. (File Photo)

The pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet colleague Venkaiah Naidu on the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) website violate the model code and should be removed immediately, the Election Commission has ruled.

Acting on a complaint that the pictures on the website promote the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly polls are on, the EC said that “depiction of photographs of Prime Minister and ministers…is in violation of model code of conduct and hence such photographs shall have to be immediately removed from the official website (pmaymis.gov.in)… the Commission desires to know the reason as to why this was not done before, when the model code was in force (since January 4),” the Commission told Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha.

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It also asked the top bureaucrat to “ensure” that websites of other ministries and departments do not contain such photographs. It recalled its earlier directions that references of ministers and politicians be removed from central government websites to ensure that the party in power does not get an advantage of any kind in the assembly elections.

While polls are over in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa, they are on in Uttar Pradesh and are to be held in Manipur.

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