Who Runs Punjab Assembly's Live Broadcast? High Court Asks Opposition Leader After He Alleges Biased Coverage

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked Pratap Singh Bajwa, the opposition leader in Punjab, to file an RTI application to find out who runs the live broadcast of State Legislative Assembly. Bajwa has approached the Court alleging biased coverage of the members' speeches.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Nidhi Gupta orally questioned the petitioner about who is responsible to run the live broadcast. "Who is running the live broadcast, is it a private company or someone else?...Is there any statute under which it is governed? Why we should entertain your petition when there is no legal right?"

Bajwa has alleged that when the ruling party members are speaking in the House, the camera is focused and the entirety of the audio is picked up as well as "camera is zoomed into the AAP speaker" to make it clear who is speaking. On the other hand when opposition leaders speaks the entirety of the speech is not shown.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that MLAs of the opposition and MLAs of the government are both representatives of their respective constituency, hence the discrimination trickles down to subjecting their constituents to discrimination. A representation in this regard was sent to the Speaker, however the concern was not addressed, he added.

However, the Court asked the petitioner to first find out who is the authority which is running the broadcast and submit the details regarding the same.

In the light of the above, the Court has granted 4 weeks to file a RTI.

Case Title: Case Title: Pratap Singh Bajwa v. State of Punjab.