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Poll body issues notice to Railways, Civil Aviation ministries for using PM’s photo on tickets, boarding passes

On Friday evening, a passenger, who took an Air India flight from Madurai, tweeted a picture of his boarding pass having photos of PM Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in an advertisement for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit held in January.

Poll body issues notice to Railways, Civil Aviation ministries for using PM’s photo on tickets, boarding passes

The two ministries have been instructed to respond by Saturday. (Image: Twitter/@TendulkarRanjan)

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued notices to the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Civil Aviation over the use of the photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the railway tickets and the boarding passes of the national carrier Air India since the Model Code of Conduct is into effect since March 10.

The two ministries have been instructed to respond by Saturday.

On Friday evening, a passenger, who took an Air India flight from Madurai, tweeted a picture of his boarding pass having photos of PM Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in an advertisement for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit held in January.

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While in the other case, passengers on board the Kathgodam Shatabdi Express were served tea in paper cups that carried the BJP’s campaign slogan “Main Bhi chowkidar”.

Meanwhile, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Friday said the paper cups with the BJP slogan printed on them have been withdrawn.

The image of the paper cup, tweeted by a passenger on Kathgodam Shatabdi, went viral and the Railways had to face a lot of backlash following which the Railways said that it has withdrawn the cup and penalised the contractor.

IRCTC said the licensee who printed the slogans on paper cups did not take prior permission from the body. According to reports, IRCTC has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 Lakh on the licensee and a show cause notice has been issued.

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