New Delhi, April 30 (CNN-IBN): The Election Commission on Wednesday found four Maharashtra candidates guilty of resorting to paid news. The EC named Milind Deora, Sanjay Nirupam, Vishwajeet Kadam and Deepak Shirole as the four candidates who allegedly indulged in paid news.
While Deora, Nirupam and Kadam are Congress candidates from Mumbai South, Mumbai North and Pune, respectively, Deepak Shirole is a BJP candidate and Kadam's opponent.
The four were held guilty by the EC-appointed Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC).
The Mumbai district committee and the Pune district committee of the MCMC had held that the compliants were instances of paid news.
In case of Pune, candidates appealed to state committee and state committee upheld the district committee order. But the Mumbai candidates withdrew their appeal. The candidates will have to agree to include the money incurred on the particular media coverage as his/her election expense.