Lok Sabha elections: Defying poll code, PRTC buses plying with Capt Amarinder’s posters

The PEPSU Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) buses carrying the state government’s advertisements with posters of chief minister Amarinder Singh are still plying across the state, defying the model code of conduct that came into effect after the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections on Sunday.

Punjab chief electoral officer Karuna Raju has already issued directions to all heads of the departments and deputy commissioners to ensure the strict implementation of the model code of conduct.

The posters list the “achievements” of the Amarinder-led government in its first 21 months such as waiving farm loans, launching the drug abuse prevention officers (DAPO) programme, drug seizures and crackdown on the trade of spurious food items as part of the ‘Tandarust Punjab’ mission. The government had pasted the publicity material on buses a couple of months ago keeping in mind the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Most of the PRTC buses plying to Mohali, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Sangrur and Bathinda from Patiala were still had these posters on Tuesday.

Asked why these posters were not removed from the buses, a PRTC bus conductor said he said they have not received any instructions in this regard so far and they cannot remove the state government’s advertisements without orders.

But PRTC managing director Poonamdeep Kaur claimed that said she has issued instructions to remove all the posters violating the model code of conduct from the corporation buses.

“I will check again if posters are not removed yet,” she said.