The Tamil Nadu Cable TV Service Providers Association met the Chief Electoral Officer on Saturday and petitioned the State Election Commission to prevent political parties from announcing provision of free set-top boxes in their electoral manifesto.

The Hindu reports that the association’s president S.P.K. Gokul Doss and other office-bearers met state CEO, Rajesh Lakhoni and handed over a petition on Friday evening.

The association moved the commission after a report in a Tamil daily purportedly published an article suggesting that a political party was planning to announce free set-top boxes to cable TV subscribers if the party came to power.

“Why are cable operators always in the firing line of political parties? We have petitioned the Election Commission against this purported announcement by the party. We have asked the commission to ban any such announcement either in the manifesto or by any other indirect means,” Mr. Gokul Doss told The Hindu.