Results delayed as Imran Khan’s PTI leads, opponents cry foul
New Delhi, July 26: In the directly contested 272 seats in Pakistan’s Parliament, 137 is the halfway mark for a simple majority.
Counting of votes is on after polling in the high-voltage Pakistan elections ended at 6 pm on Wednesday. Early trends show that Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is in the driver’s seat with ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz at the second spot followed by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party.
Earlier in the day, voting was marred by reports of violence and a deadly suicide blast near Quetta, that killed over 35 people and left 67 injured. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan has sent a notice to PTI chairman Imran Khan for voting in full public view and in front of the cameras — a violation of the code of conduct. However, the party said Khan did not violate any rules and urged the Election of Commission of Pakistan to take note of the “fake news” being circulated, Dawn reported.
Latest election trends: PTI-113, PML-N-64, PPP-43, MQM-5, MMA-9
PTI workers sense victory, celebrate on streets in Pakistan
(SOURCE: AP)
We reject the #PakistanGeneralElection2018 results: Shehbaz Sharif, President, Pakistan Muslim League-N #PakistanElections2018 pic.twitter.com/z2uqN57Fz5
— ANI (@ANI) July 25, 2018
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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Union government assumes full control over TV ratings, TRAI role curtailed: Report
New Delhi: The Union government has assumed full control over television audience measurement, removing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from oversight of the ratings system that underpins the country’s ₹36,000 crore television advertising market, according to a report published on Wednesday.
The report in Mint said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) now has exclusive authority over the framework governing how television ratings are measured and regulated. TRAI had been entrusted with oversight of TV ratings in 2012 during the UPA government’s tenure. TRAI is no longer mentioned in the relevant policy document, effectively vesting sole authority in the MIB.
The report said TRAI will continue to regulate other aspects of broadcasting, including channel pricing, advertising caps, interconnection and distribution norms, service quality and compliance standards. Its role in determining how ratings agencies track viewing behaviour has been withdrawn.
Television Rating Points (TRPs), which reflect viewership patterns, guide advertisers in deciding where to allocate spending across channels and time slots.
A government source quoted in the report said the ministry could modify TRAI’s decisions even when the regulator oversaw broadcasting.
A former CEO of Prasar Bharati told the newspaper that the MIB has historically regulated rating agencies through licensing and guidelines, and by holding them accountable under existing norms.
During its tenure overseeing ratings, TRAI had taken decisions affecting the broadcast sector, which included capping advertising time at 12 minutes per hour following complaints about excessive commercial breaks and it now remains unclear how these matters will be addressed under the revised arrangement.
Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at TRAI, was quoted as saying that merging regulatory functions with policy oversight and removing an independent regulator from the process was a retrograde step.
TRAI’s involvement in broadcasting had earlier attracted criticism as well. In 2012, its consultation paper on quantitative limits on television advertising was viewed by some as overlapping with the Advertising Standards Council of India’s code. Subsequent recommendations covering television audience measurement, ownership of news channels and issues such as paid news had also raised concerns among sections of the industry.
Television ratings have faced scrutiny in recent years, including during the controversy involving the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), where officials of the ratings body were prosecuted over allegations of manipulation of viewership data.
