Dissatisfied with Union Minister of Agriculture Sharad Pawar’s reply, the Election Commission on Thursday summoned Union Agriculture Secretary to explain an advertisement which appeared in a Mumbai paper on October 3. The EC had received complaints about the Marathi advertisement released by Pawar’s Ministry, which read: “Dear farmer, this kharif season, rains did not help you. But we will - Message to farmer friends from Union Agriculture Ministry”. The Union Agriculture Secretary would appear in the Commission on Friday.

Sources said that in his reply, Pawar argued that “the subject matter of the advertisement released by his ministry had been cleared by the poll panel”. After its meeting on Thursday, however, the EC felt this was not entirely true and that there were dissimilarities between what had been cleared by the poll panel and what appeared in the advertisement.