Printers under Election Commission scanner

Entrepreneurs involved in printing of posters and pamphlets will come under the scanner of the Election Commission in the run up to the Assembly elections slated to be held on May 12.

There shall be restrictions on the printing of posters and pamphlets related to the elections. Certain norms and regulations are in place to monitor them. A release has stated that no person shall print or publish any election-related pamphlet or poster without the names and address of the printer and the publisher. The norms also stipulate that photocopying original pamphlets would be deemed as printing and photocopies should contain the name of the printer.

It is reckoned that there are nearly 300 printers in Mysuru region. A meeting was convened on Tuesday to create awareness on prevailing norms and regulations on printing of election-related publicity material.

“Though such norms existed earlier, an awareness meeting is being conducted for the first time in recent decades,” said Suresh Kumar Jain of the Mysore Industries’ Association.

The awareness programme is an attempt to clear doubts of entrepreneurs on how they could go about accepting orders.

The draft of the contents should first be approved by local authorities after which permission has to be sought. Other details including the name of the political party, number of copies printed, address and name of the printer, etc, should be prominently displayed on the publicity material, Mr. Jain said.

The release warned that any person who contravenes any of the norms can be punished with imprisonment for a term that may extend to six months, or slapped with a fine, or with both.