Air India, on the 25th of March, withdrew boarding passes which had pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vijay Rupani, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, on them.
The decision to withdraw the boarding passes with the pictures of the two Bharatiya Janata Party leaders came after Shashi Kant, a former Director General of Punjab Police, complained about the same.
Mr. Shashi Kant took to Twitter and posted an image of his boarding pass, which had pictures of PM Modi and Vijay Rupani printed on it.
At New Delhi airport today March 25th, 2019.
My Air India Boarding Pass, prominently flashes Narendra Modi, “Vibrant Gujrat” & Vijay Rupani. Picture of boarding pass is below.
Wonder why we are wasting public money on this Election Commission, which doesn’t see, hears or speak… pic.twitter.com/7t49cNIlAR— Shashi Kant IPS (@shashikantips54) March 25, 2019
Speaking about the incident, Air India said, the boarding passes were third party advertisements. They further clarified, if the advertisement violates the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) enforced by the Election Commission of India (ECI,) they will remove the advertisement.
Dhananjay Kumar, the Air India spokesperson, said, “The rolls seem to be the ones left over from the boarding passes printed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and the photos are third-party advertisements. It has nothing to do with Air India. These boarding passes are not just for Gujarat, but are in use across India,”
Air India also said, the boarding passes were printed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, which was held in January 2019.
After the ECI announced the dates of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in India, the MCC came into action.
According to the ECI, every political party contesting the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections must follow the MCC. The MCC is a set of guidelines which state the dos and don’ts until the results of the elections are declared.
The Lok Sabha elections are starting from the 11th of April and will continue till the 19th of May.
The major parties contesting the Lok Sabha elections are the Indian National Congress (INC) and the BJP.
The results of the elections will be announced on the 23rd of May 2019.
Stay tuned for further updates about the Lok Sabha elections.
Also read : Lok Sabha Elections – Last Day For Filing Nominations
