The Election Commission of India ECI holds that paid news ldquo plays a very vitiating role in the c...........

English Language (SBI-CL) Reading comprehension (P)

Directions (): Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which one sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate/coherent way.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) holds that paid news “plays a very vitiating role in the context of free and fair elections and involves under-reporting of election expenses” by candidates. It found 42 cases of paid news in the election of BJP’s Narottam Mishra from Datia, Madhya Pradesh (MP), in the 2008 state Assembly elections. Indeed, one particular news item with the same headline and body appeared in three leading Hindi news Delhi immediately before the polls. __________________________________. Given there is no specific law against “paid news”, the poll panel leant on Section 10A of the Representation of Peoples Act (RPA) that deals with the misreporting of funds, arguing that Mishra knew of, and by implication authorised the publication of the “reports” which should be seen as political advertising under Section 77 of the RPA.

This essentially restricts the poll regulator from acting against paid news.

In 2017, the ECI ordered Mishra’s disqualification and barred him from contesting elections for three years.

Since the expenditure incurred or authorised on this head was not listed in the submissions to the poll regulator.

A Law Commission report from 2015 also recommends amending the RPA to this effect.

None of these

Explanation:

The paragraph his describing about the influences of paid news during the election. It has also provided evidence for the same stating 42 cases of paid news in the election of BJP’s Narottam Mishra from Datia, MP. The latter part of the paragraph mentions about the norms under which the legitimized action is effectuated.Thus, the most appropriate sentence that should complete the paragraph is “In 2017, the ECI ordered Mishra’s disqualification and barred him from contesting elections for three years”, as it connects the previous and the later part of the paragraph. All the other sentences fail to provide coherence to the paragraph; hence, option (b) is the most suitable answer choice.