MCD, police crack down on defacement

This election season, officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Police have a new job on their hands.

Teams from both departments are going from one place to another, finding defaced walls, removing posters and graffiti and repainting them.

With MCD elections just round the corner, the police are now planning to lodge FIRs against violators under the Defacement of Property Act. The team has repainted 25 walls so far and will intensify its drive from next week.

"We found a number of walls where supporters of political parties had painted graffiti. This is violation of the model code of conduct. Some were about specific candidates while others were about political parties," said a senior MCD official.

"We have repainted all such walls. We have removed posters and banners that have been put up illegally and sent complaints to the police," the official said.

The police are planning to file FIRs on their own. "Now that elections are coming closer, candidates are flouting rules while campaigning. We have now decided to take strict action and will file FIRs against violators," said a senior police official.

So far, the police and MCD have removed 372 political hoardings, 495 banners and 1,338 posters.

A report on the action taken will be sent to the Delhi State Election Commission.

There are 500 unipoles in the city where political parties can put up advertisements. The charge for using these unipoles is R1500 per month.

The BJP has already booked 200 unipoles.