NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today extended the ban imposed by it in April, just before the general elections were held in the country, on the telecast of political and surrogate advertisements.

The ban comes in the wake of the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra and four other states, including Bihar, Jharkand, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.

A three-judge bench, comprising chief justice R C Lahoti and justices G P Mathur and A K Mathur, said that the 13 April order passed by this court would be in operation until further orders, according to a UNI report.

The bench also directed transfer to itself for hearing a writ petition filed by the Gemini TV in Andhra Pradesh high court challenging the constitutional validity of Rule 7(3) of the Cable Network Regulation rules, which prohibited telecast of political and surrogate ads in the electronic media. Although, no such ban was imposed on the print media, the agency report stated.

Andhra Pradesh high court had stayed the operation of the Rule 7(3) against, which the Centre came in appeal to the apex court. The court passed the 13 April order on this appeal.

The SC also permitted the central government to file an application seeking transfer to the apex court three more such petitions pending before Andhra Pradesh high court.