For nearly one month after dates of Lok Sabha elections were declared, BJP got close to 160 hours of airtime coverage on DD News and its regional channels, even as Congress half of that, a report by Indian Express has said. On April 5, DD News shared a report with Election Commission on airtime provided to all political parties from the date of announcement of polls till that day. The Congress was second in terms of coverage with 80 hours, while CPM got only eight hours.
Based on this report, the EC on April 9, called airtime to parties disproportionate. The poll body also asked Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry to ask DD News to desist from extending any preferential or disproportionate airtime coverage in favour of any party, the paper added further.