The Election Commission on Thursday directed the political parties to ensure that no newspaper advertisements are published in poll-bound Goa and Punjab without clearance from the monitoring committees set up by the poll panel. The EC stated that it had come across instances of advertisements of an offending and misleading nature in the past. Holding that such advertisements in the last stage of the election vitiated the process, the Commission said the affected candidates and parties would not have any opportunity of providing clarification or rebuttal in such cases.
