September 26, 2002	Thursday	Rajab 18, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 25: The Election Commission (EC) has asked the government electronic media to ensure balanced coverage to the political parties during their polls drive.

In its meeting on Wednesday, the EC took suo motu notice of the reports alleging that some of the political parties were meted out discriminatory treatment in the coverage.

The EC also stated that the Code of Conduct prescribed for PTV and PBC required: “In any constituency, one candidate alone should not be projected. While it is not necessary to cover every single candidate (as some constituencies may have several candidates). At least, the more important should be covered in any report from a constituency.

“None political party should be given substantially more coverage than others. This ‘balance’ need not be achieved in any single day or in a single story, but over a reasonable period of time, say one week.

“Balance does not mean that each party must get exactly the same air time to the last second, but parties should be given broadly the same amount of time.

“Balance implied that to no reasonable person should it appear that one political party was being projected to the exclusion of others.”

The EC has also called for a report from the managing director and news editor of the PTV till Sept 29, 2002.