Alleged pressure on film stars to repost Prime Minister’s tweet, plaint filed against union govt.
Bengaluru: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spokesperson Surya Mukundaraj has filed a complaint with the state Chief Electoral Officer, alleging that the union government is pressurising film actors to repost the Prime Minister's tweets and indirectly campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has violated the Election code of conduct and misused its authority to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party. In addition, the central government is allocating crores of rupees to social media influencers,” alleged Mukundaraj in his complaint.
In his complaint he revealed that, “On February 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a post on his official X account encouraging first-time voters.”
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Surya Mukundaraj accused officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, through their subordinate Censor Board members, of pressuring popular actors and actresses in different states of the country to repost the PM’s X post.
He clarified in the complaint that any officer of the Prime Minister's office or his ministry indirectly influencing the voters by making such tweets as part of the election campaign after the Election Code of Conduct has been enacted will be a violation of the Election Code of Conduct.
He urged the Election Commission to conduct a proper investigation into the matter and take stringent legal action against the officials who are pressurising the actors and actresses, and funds being given to the active social media influencers.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
