The Election Commission is learnt to have showcaused the railways for the use of paper teacups with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan “Main bhi chowkidar”.

As the image tweeted by a passenger went viral, the railways said they had withdrawn the cups and penalised the contractor.

Poll panel sources said the railways had been asked to explain the prima facie violation of the model code of conduct by Saturday evening.

The panel is learnt to have invoked the “party in power” clause of the poll model code of conduct as it could be averred that the BJP was using the government transporter for election publicity.

“Reports that tea has been served in cups labelled as ‘Main bhi chowkidar’ have been investigated. This was without any prior approval of IRCTC. Explanation has been sought from supervisor/pantry incharges over lack of devotion to duty. One lakh fine has been imposed on the service provider. Show cause notice has also been served to the service provider for this misconduct,” said rail catering company IRCTC in a statement on Friday.