As Lok Sabha Elections conclude, BJP-backed NaMo TV silently goes off air

Days after the Lok Sabha Election concluded, BJP backed NaMo TV silently goes off the air, news agency PTI quoted party sources as saying today. NaMo Tv was a TV channel meant for publicising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rallies and political messages that went off air two days before the final phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

"As NaMo TV was a campaign tool for the BJP, it was no longer needed after the Lok Sabha elections got over. So it was taken off air as soon as campaigning ended on May 17," a BJP leader told PTI.

According to executives of two direct-to-home (DTH), NaMo TV that featured Narendra Modi’s past speeches and content related to the ruling BJP since March 31 went off the airwaves on May 17, reported HT.

“The broadcast stopped 2-3 days back. We stopped receiving signals from the source on the Internet which was operated by the BJP,” a top executive of a leading DTH operator told HT.

Confirming news of NaMo TV went off the air, BJP IT head Amit Malviya said: “the channel went off air effective May 17 when all campaign was to be paused”.

Notably, NaMo Tv had been surrounded by the controversy ever since it first made an appearance on March 31. Opposition parties objected to NaMo TV that a television channel dedicated to PM Modi and BJP was a direct violation of the Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct.

On May 19, after final phase polling concluded for the national poll, Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter and wrote against the Election Commission and accused it of capitulation before PM Modi and BJP.

On April 11, the Election Commission directed NaMo TV to not air any content that has not been approved by the panel or authorise political ads.

Meanwhile, I&B Ministry and DTH operators said NaMo TV was not a licensed channel but a DTH advertisement platform.