During state elections, 167 paid news reported from just 5 districts

HYDERABAD: ‘ Kaaru joru’ (speeding car), ‘Maha kutamitho Telanganaku muppu’ (Telangana faces threat from grand alliance), ‘Gelupu neede naayana’ (Victory is yours man), ‘ Prajala aasthulaku rakshanaga untanu’ (I will protect the public property) and ‘ Narendrudi pracharaniki vishesha spandana’ (Great response to Narendra Modi’s campaign) might be some of the catchy headlines but they were found among hundreds of news titles, that were declared ‘paid news’ by Election Commission-appointed district collectors-led media certification and monitoring committee (MCMC) in Telangana .

When MCMC sought explanation from one of the Congress MLAs in Nalgonda in connection with some reports suspecting them to be paid news, he replied: “We received a notice from the returning officer and showed the amount mentioned in the notice as part of our expenditure.” The MLA in question was Mungode MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, who admitted availing himself of paid news coverage during the December assembly polls.

Rajagopal was among the nearly 60 candidates from various parties in six districts — Nalgonda, Adilabad, Warangal, Jogulamba Gadwal, Nizamabad and Sangareddy — who were identified by MCMC for seeking paid news coverage in 167 reports in these districts. The number of candidates who benefited through paid news would be substantially higher if data of remaining 25 districts, including Hyderabad, is out.

As per the RTI Act reply given by each of the six collectors, prominent TRS leaders whose names figured in paid news were — minister V Prashanth Reddy, MLA Jeevan Reddy from Nizamabad, former minister Jogu Ramanna from Adilabad, K Bhoopal Reddy and Vemula Veeresham from Nalgonda. Similarly, names of former Congress ministers Komatireddy Venkat Reddy from Nalgonda, DK Aruna from Gadwal and Sudarshan Reddy from Nizamabad also figured.

As per EC guidelines, each district will have an MCMC which will receive complaints on suspected paid news. If the committee concludes that it is paid news, the candidate has to show it in his election expenditure. The total amount fixed by the concerned MCMC committees for the 167 reports was a meagre ?15.49 lakh. Sources said the cost fixed by MCMC is very low compared to the actual cost paid by the candidate.