NaMo TV goes off air; BJP leader says it was taken down on 17 May at end of Lok Sabha poll campaign

New Delhi: NaMo TV, a BJP-sponsored channel that publicised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies and other poll messages, has gone off air, party sources said. They said it went off air on 17 May when all campaigns for the Lok Sabha election came to an end. A BJP leader, requesting anonymity, said, “NaMo TV was meant as a tool of BJP campaign for the Lok Sabha election. With the polls over, it is no longer needed, so effectively from 17 May, when all campaign has to be paused, it has also gone off air.” [caption id=“attachment_6367641” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of a NaMo TV advertisement. Twitter @narendramodi[/caption] The channel was mired in controversy ever since it went on air. The chief electoral officer of Delhi had sent a notice to the BJP for “airing election-related content” on NaMo TV even after the silence period began, but the party had said they did not violate the Model Code of Conduct. In April, after the Election Commission had directed that all recorded programmes displayed on NaMo TV be pre-certified, the Delhi poll body asked the BJP not to air any content on the platform without its certification. The chief electoral office in Delhi had also said since NaMo TV was sponsored by the BJP, all recorded programmes displayed on the platform be pre-certified by media certification and monitoring committee of Delhi and all political publicity contents displayed without pre-certification be removed immediately. The commission had issued a notice seeking a report from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on NaMo TV, launched just weeks ahead of the general election, after Opposition parties, including the Congress, asked the poll body to direct the ministry to suspend the channel in violation of the poll code.