The pre-certification committee in the office of the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) has rejected a campaign advertisement application of a song released by the Aam Aadmi Party for “casting aspersions on the judiciary”, “inciting violence”, presenting police “in bad taste”, and criticising the ruling party on “the basis of unverified facts”

The committee, in a letter dated April 27, advised the AAP to modify the two-minute song and video accordingly.

During the model code of conduct, all political advertisements published via electronic media must be approved and certified by MCMC of the respective district or state, and the application must be made no later than three days prior to when the ad is to be broadcast.

The AAP song, launched on April 25, raises allegations of dictatorial governance, unemployment, inflation, and conspiracy targeting opposition leaders.

It is not clear why the pre-certification committee sent the letter two days after the song was released. HT has reached out to AAP for more details on when the song was submitted to the Delhi CEO for approval.

If the party chooses to appeal this, the plea must be sent to the state-level media certification and monitoring committee (MCMC), which is chaired by Delhi CEO P Krishnamurthy.