ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Thursday issued show-cause notices to four electronic media news channels, citing violation of the election code of conduct.

The notices were issued after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) complained that Geo News, ARY News, GNN and Dawn News had overstepped the bounds by airing exclusive interviews with several political party leaders past the deadline set for electioneering.

Pemra has given the management of the news channels seven days to file a reply in personal hearing, after which further action would be taken.

Moreover, the authority issued directives to satellite news channels to strictly follow the code of conduct issued under the Elections Act 2017 to avoid disciplinary action.

Meanwhile, the ECP was also considering issuing notices to some electronic channels for airing partial election res­ults before the prescribed deadline of 6pm.

ECP sources told Dawn that some channels began releasing results from various polling stations slightly ahead of the deadline.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2024