August 21, 2026 08:06 pm (IST)
Follow us:
Bihar polls: After row over BJP ad on cow, EC bans advertisements without prior clearance
New Delhi, Nov 4 (IBNS): After a row over a newspaper ad by the BJP in Bihar showcasing a woman hugging a cow, which was an attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on his "silence" over statements made by his allies on beef, the Election Commission on Tuesday took a stern step and directed political parties not to publish any ads without its approval.
"Political parties shall submit copies of their Advertisements to the Chief Electoral Officer/District Magistrate-cum-District Election Officer, simultaneously, with the release of those Advertisements for publication in the news-papers," a statement by the Election Commission read.
"News papers were also directed by the said letter that they shall not publish any Advertisements which have the potential of aggravating the differences between different sections of the society and promoting ill-will hatred or disharmony," it said.
The EC also directed all newspapers in the state of Bihar that they shall not publish any advertisement on Thursday which has not been pre-certified by the said MCMC.
This comes after an ad, issued by the Bharatiya Janata Party, asked why Nitish Kumar has not acted on "repeated insults" to the cow by his allies.
"Stop vote bank politics and explain whether you endorse these statements," the ad said while listing three comments made by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and others.
The ad made an obvious reference to Lalu Prasad Yadav's comment after a Muslim man was killed by a mob in Uttar Pradesh over rumours of beef eating and cow slaughter. "Don't Hindus eat beef too ? It is the poor who are forced to eat beef. People eat (beef) outside the country too. What difference does it make?", Lalu Prasad had said.
The BJP immediately launched an aggressive campaign around the remark, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly attacking Lalu Yadav in election speeches.
The ad also lists the comments made by RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah's declaration earlier this week that, "No one can prevent me from eating beef if I want to."
Tthe election commission has reportedly ordered an FIR against BJP also.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
Indian Navy gets major boost as indigenous anti-submarine warfare ship ‘Mangrol’ delivered
Fri, Aug 21 2026
India’s space push gets rocket boost! PM Modi meets 20 startup CEOs
Fri, Aug 21 2026
Rahul Gandhi stages dharna at Delhi police station over CJP protest crackdown, targets Amit Shah
Fri, Aug 21 2026
CJP school tour turns chaotic in Jaipur: Cars vandalised, stones pelted as Ashutosh Ranka alleges BJP ‘goons’ attack
Fri, Aug 21 2026
Trump’s ‘Economic D-Day’ against Iran: What it means for India
Fri, Aug 21 2026
Lucknow double murder-suicide: SBI employee shoots wife, sister before killing himself
Thu, Aug 20 2026