The Press Council of India has asked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Uttar Pradesh to clarify whether it had restricted the media from reporting the result of the parliamentary bye-poll in Gorakhpur on March 14, PTI reported. Reports have claimed that mediapersons were prohibited from entering the counting centre as the Samajwadi Party began to take the lead.

The election was necessitated by the resignation of Chief Minister Adityanath, who had won the Gorakhpur seat five consecutive times.

Press Council of India Chairperson Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad said the body had taken note of the allegations. If found true, the restrictions violated the freedom of the press, he said in a statement.

Prasad has asked the state’s chief secretary and Gorakhpur district magistrate to send him a report.

On March 14, District Magistrate Rajeev Rautela had reportedly asked personnel at counting centres to stop giving updates to the media, NDTV reported. “You can shoot as much as you want,” the channel had quoted Rautela as saying. “The Election Commission says media is not allowed where EVMs are in circulation.”

The seat was won by the Samajwadi Party’s Pravin Nishad, wresting it from the BJP for the first time since 1989.