Election Commission of India(ECI) issues guidelines on poll ads in social media

With political parties using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook in a big way for campaigning in Lok Sabha polls, Election Commission of India(ECI) has issued detailed guidelines for political advertisements on such platforms that include obtaining certification for contents before putting them in public domain.

The Election Commission of India(ECI)has also asked the social networking sites to maintain expenditure incurred by the political parties and individual candidates on advertisements so that they can be produced to the Commission when requested for.

 

In separate letters to major social networking sites on Tuesday, the ECI directed them to ensure that the content displayed by them during the electoral process was not “unlawful or malicious or violative of the model code of conduct.”

Director in ECI Dhirender Ojha said the directive of the Commission will be applicable to a range of internet-based social media which include Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Wikipedia.

“We have told the social networking sites to take pre-certification from Media Certification and Monitoring Committees at district and State levels,” he said while addressing a workshop on media’s role in the electoral process.

The ECI has already issued directions for providing details of social media accounts by the candidates while filing their nominations.