Posters by the Congress, accusing Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of corruption, emerged across Bhopal, drawing a stern warning from digital payments company PhonePe which has objected to the use of its logo in the posters.
As the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress rev up their election machinery for the Assembly polls due later this year, a poster war has broken out in the state. As part of the campaign, posters with pictures of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan were plastered in several parts of the state.
The posters, similar to QR codes in shops, accused the BJP veteran of demanding commission to get work done. The posters also featured PhonePe’s brand name and logo.
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Pictures of the posters were shared by the state Congress unit on its Twitter handle. “Get 50 per cent, get the work done over the phone. The people of Madhya Pradesh know, they recognise those who take 50 per cent commission,” read the Twitter post in Hindi.
PhonePe on Monday reacted to the posters on Twitter, saying that its logo should be removed from the posters and that it “objected to the unauthorized use of its brand logo by any third party, whether political or non-political.”
“PhonePe objects to the unauthorized use of its brand logo by any third party, whether political or non-political. We are not affiliated with any political campaign or party. PhonePe logo is a registered trademark of our company. Any unauthorized use of Intellectual Property Rights of PhonePe will invite legal action. We humbly request @INCMP to remove the posters with our brand and logo,” the company tweeted.
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The poster war in Madhya Pradesh is similar with that in the recently-concluded Karnataka elections. Ahead of the election in the southern state, the Congress ran a ‘PayCM’ poster campaign against the previous chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai.