KARIMNAGAR, SEPTEMBER 16, 2023: Even before the announcement of election notification for the conduct of Assembly elections in Telangana state, the public and private walls in Karimnagar town have already turned ugly with the political parties occupying the walls and taking up wall writings and pasting posters.
The defacing of public and private property is likely to get worse in the days to come, leading to the elections as the respective area organizers of every political party compete with one another in getting maximum wall space and, that too, without permission from the election commission. Already aspirants from the Karimnagar assembly constituency belonging to the Congress and BRS have put up their graffiti in various parts of the town.
Freshly, the BRS leaders have sprang a surprise by erecting posters throughout the town with the message of “Manavathaku maruperu KCR sir, malli gelichiravale manasugalla sarkaru” and ‘vote for car symbol for continuation of development’ with pictures of Minister for civil supplies Gangula Kamalakar and TS planning board vice chairman B Vinod Kumar, who would be contesting from Karimnagar assembly and Karimnagar parliament constituency respectively.
The writings on the walls are a metaphor, particularly during election campaigns. Politicians consider it their democratic right to write on the walls to take their candidature into the public. But there are several restrictions on the graffiti as per law. The prevention of defacement of property act says anyone who “defaces any property in public view by writing or marking with ink, chalk, paint or any other material, except for purposes of indicating the name of the property owner, will be punished”.
The act says that the guilty will “be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to Rs 50,000, or with both”.
