The Election Commission officials in AP have clarified that there’s no permission to the screening of Ram Gopal Varma’s film ‘Lakshmi’s NTR’ as of now. They further clarified that the film makers had requested for permission recently but it has not been approved in view of the prevailing election code. As a precautionary measure, the officials have forwarded a copy of the April 10 order of the Election Commission to all the District Collectors and the SPs to initiate action if there’s violation.

It’s now clear that the EC’s April 10 order is still in force. The officials are surprised at the film makers blindly going ahead to release the film tomorrow. The issue of EC permission has also not come to the fore when Varma was prevented from holding a press conference in a roadside in Vijayawada last Sunday. There are indications that the officials have no choice but to stop the release of Varma film as the TDP already began attacking the controversial director. The EC doesn’t want to complicate things as there are possibilities of needless politicisation of the issue when there’s poll code in force.