Election officials serve notices to ex-CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank for flouting model code

HARIDWAR: The election commission (EC) sent two notices to BJP’s Haridwar candidate and former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Saturday for allegedly violating the model code of conduct twice.
In the first notice, the ex-CM has been given 72 hours to explain an advertisement put up on Facebook on Friday without prior clearance from the media monitoring committee.Similarly, the panel sent him another notice on the same day for allegedly violating model code at a public function. The notice sent by Nitika Khandelwal, assistant returning officer of Hariwar, has sought response from Nishank within 24 hours for placing banners at a programme in BT Ganj while he had obtained permission only for using a loud speaker. A video of the entire programme reviewed by senior election officials revealed that banners and flex boards without details of printers and publishers were put up at the venue.
Meanwhile, a petition against his candidature is due to be heard by the Uttarakhand high court on Monday.