Haryana chief electoral officer (CEO) Anurag Agarwal said the cost of bulk SMSes sent by the candidate during the ongoing Lok Sabha election campaign will be included in the expenditure account of the candidate concerned.
He said the district administration and the assistant returning officer concerned about getting information about the use of bulk messages during the election campaign will assess the estimate of the expenditure incurred on it from the respective service provider and include the same in the expenditure account of the candidate.
The CEO said as per the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), there will be a complete ban on sending bulk SMSes of political nature during the period up to 48 hours before the end of polling.
During the election campaign in all districts, mobile service providers have been directed to bring the information about such bulk SMSes to the notice of the monitoring team.
He said the teams will keep a close vigil on those sending objectionable SMSes during the election campaign. During investigation, the sender of such SMSes will be traced and appropriate action will be taken against him/her as per the rules.