Q&A Indian Polity Q. Comment on the Election Commission regulations on social media use during elections by political parties. A. The election commission of India issued guidelines for the use of Social Media for election campaigning, saying that its attention has been drawn to ‘certain violations of the Electoral Law in the social media which need to be regulated in the interest of transparency and level playing field in the elections. 1. Candidates’ Social Media accounts: Candidates are required to provide information about their (official) Social Media accounts, in the affidavits that they file at the time of filing nominations. 2. Pre-Certification of Political Advertisements: every registered/national and State political party and every contesting candidate proposing to issue advertisements on television channels and/ or on cable network will have to apply to Election Commission of India/designated officer for pre-certification of all political advertisements on electronic media (including Social Media) before the publication. 3. Submit expenditure on online campaigning: “This, among other things, shall include payments made to internet companies and websites for carrying advertisements and also campaign related operational expenditure on making of creative development of content, operational expenditure on salaries and wages paid to the team of workers employed by such candidates and political parties to maintain their social media accounts, etc.” 4. Application of Model Code of Conduct to content on Internet including social media: This is where there is ambiguity. In practice, while official accounts may not be used, these norms are clearly being violated by supporters of political parties online, and this has been the case for a while.Also, 48 Hour. Further, Government funds for online promotion: (i) (a) The Ministers shall not combine their official visit with electioneering work and shall not also make use of official machinery or personnel during the electioneering work. (iv) Issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer in the newspapers and other media and the misuse of official mass media during the election period for partisan coverage of political news and publicity regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided.” Does a social media campaign from the government for Bharat Nirman classify as the usage of government funds for publicity for the party in power?
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 04:28:45 +0000
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