The Election Commission has confirmed 321 cases of paid news in the country in the Lok Sabha elections held for 349 parliamentary constituencies till date.
According to data released by the EC Thursday, notices have been served to parties concerned in 582 cases so far, of which 321 cases have been confirmed.
In Rajasthan, the EC has served notices in 168 cases, of which 115 have been found to be genuine. In Uttar Pradesh, all 61 cases in which notices have been served have been confirmed to be instances of paid news.
In Punjab, 32 of 58 cases in which notices were served have been decided by the EC as of paid news. In Maharashtra, only four cases were found to be instances of paid news, though notices were served in 66 cases.
Among southern states, Tamil Nadu has seen two cases of paid news of the 15 cases in which notices were served. In neighbouring Karnataka, 23 of 32 cases were found to be genuine.
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The other cases of paid news are in other states, the EC said.