BARC charges Arnab Goswami's Republic TV with misrepresenting private communication

News Network
October 19, 2020

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Mumbai, Oct 19: TV viewership rating agency BARC India has charged Republic TV of misrepresenting its private and confidential communication, saying it has not commented on the ongoing investigation into the alleged manipulation of ratings.

In a statement, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) said it was cooperating with the law enforcement agencies in their ongoing investigation in the Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation case.

Responding to claims by Republic TV that an email from BARC gives proof of the channel not being involved in any alleged malpractices, the agency said it was "highly disappointed" with the broadcaster's actions.

"BARC India is highly disappointed with the actions of the Republic Network by disclosing private and confidential communications and misrepresenting the same.

"BARC India reiterates that it has not commented on the ongoing investigation and without prejudice to BARC India's rights, it expresses its dismay at the actions of the Republic Network," it said.

Mumbai police, on a BARC complaint, is investigating allegations of manipulation of TRP ratings. Republic TV is one of the four channels being investigated.

The BARC statement came after Republic TV disclosed what it said was an email conversation between the agency's CEO Sunil Lulla and Republic Media Network CEO Vikas Khanchandani.

As per the TV network's website, Khanchandani wrote an email to BARC on October 16, to "confirm in public domain" that the body has found no infringement by Republic.

"In response to Khanchandani's email, BARC responded on October 17, by thanking the network for their 'faith in the internal mechanisms of BARC' and said that 'if there was any disciplinary action initiated against ARG Outlier Media (Republic's owner), then BARC India would have communicated the same to you along with necessary documents for your response"," the website said.

"Thus, this e-mail proves that BARC did not allege any malpractice against the Republic Media Network," it added.

Reacting to BARC's statement, Republic TV owner Arnab Goswami told PTI, that the email of BARC confirms that the police commissioner lied. (Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh) should immediately quit, Goswami said.

BARC did not elaborate on the exact parts of the email which makes it feel that the communication was "misrepresented".

Six people have been arrested by the police in the scam, which allegedly involves inducing homes which form the sample set whose TV viewing is monitored to ensure that certain channels get higher ratings. The ratings are a key influencer of advertiser preferences while placing commercials. The police claim this is a "multi-crore" scam.

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News Network
March 17,2024

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New Delhi: The Election Commission on Sunday made public fresh data on electoral bonds, which it had submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and was later asked to put it in public domain.

These details are believed to be pertaining to the period before April 12, 2019. Electoral bond details after this date was made public by the poll panel last week.

The BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.5 crore; maximum Rs 2,555 crore received in 2019-20, as per the EC data.

The Trinamool Congress received Rs 1,397 crore through electoral bonds, second largest recipient after BJP, as per the EC data.

On the other hand, the Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.

DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including Rs 509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming.

BJD encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 944.5 crore, YSR Congress Rs 442.8 crore, TDP Rs 181.35 crore.

Political parties had filed data on electoral bonds in sealed cover as directed by the Supreme Court's interim order dated April 12, 2019, the poll panel said in a statement.

"Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court's order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website," EC said.

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News Network
March 15,2024

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Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would formally kickstart the BJP's Lok Sabha election campaign in Karnataka on Saturday from Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's home turf— Kalaburagi.

He is scheduled to address a mega public meeting at the district headquarters town's N V Ground at 2 pm.

Kharge, who had represented Kalaburagi (Gulbarga Lok Sabha segment) twice in the past, lost to BJP's Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 general elections here— the octogenarian leader's first electoral loss in his political life spanning several decades.

BJP has once again fielded Jadhav from the segment.

Speculations are rife that the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, who has the role of managing the party nationally and coordinating with the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc, may not contest the coming polls and, instead, the Congress is likely to field his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani, a businessman, who also manages educational institutions.

On March 18, Modi will be in Shivamogga, the home district of veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, and is scheduled to address a huge public meeting at 2 pm.

Yediyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra is the sitting MP from Shivamogga and has been re-nominated by the party. Yediyurappa's other son B Y Vijayendra, who represents Shikaripura assembly constituency in the district, is the state BJP President.

BJP has announced candidates for 20 seats in the State, which has a total of 28 constituencies.

After being ousted from power by the Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls, the BJP now is making a strong bid to regain the lost ground in Karnataka.

The BJP won 25 out of total 28 seats in the previous elections, and had ensured the win of a party supported independent candidate in Mandya. The then ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance had come a cropper winning just one seat each.

It is a role reversal of sorts for JD(S), which joined the NDA last September and has forged an electoral alliance with the BJP. The regional party is expected to contest in three seats— Mandya, Hassan and Kolar.

Sharing details of Modi's visit, state BJP General Secretary Sunil Kumar on Wednesday said BJP National President J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath along with other leaders will visit different Lok Sabha constituencies for campaigning in the coming days.

Speaking about the party's poll preparations, he said: "We have divided 28 Lok Sabha constituencies into eight clusters for Lok Sabha elections. Keeping in view the local political and geographical background, programmes and strategies are being worked out in those eight clusters."

Several senior leaders including Shah and Nadda have already visited one of these clusters, Kumar said, adding, "Workers' convention, well-wishers' contacts have been made and election preparations are on in all these eight clusters. In the second phase, large public meetings will be held."

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News Network
March 21,2024

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Mangaluru: A man from Dakshina Kannada was duped of Rs 2.5 lakh after he was promised a Poland visa.

In a complaint, a resident of Belthangady, stated that the accused, Manoj, had promised a job for his son in Poland. 

Between May 22 of last year and March 19, he handed over Rs 2.2 lakh in various phases, citing different reasons.

However, since the accused failed to provide a visa or return the money, a case was registered at the Dharmasthala police station under IPC sections 417 and 420.

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