Tarn Taran bypoll: General Observer Pushpa Satyani visits MCMC Cell

General Observer Pushpa Satyani, deputed by the Election Commission of India for the 021-Tarn Taran by-election, visited Tarn Taran on Monday.

On the occasion, she reviewed the efforts being made by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) Cell to curb paid news and examined the process of political advertisement monitoring and pre-certification across print, electronic, and social media platforms. She expressed satisfaction over the performance of the MCMC Cell.

Pushpa Satyani said in view of the by-election of the Vidhan Sabha Constituency 021-Tarn Taran, the MCMC Cell, formed at the district level, is keeping a round-the-clock watch on print, electronic and social media under the directions of the Election Commission.

She said all news related to the by-election should be carefully scrutinised to prevent the spread of paid or fake news.

The General Observer said no political advertisement may be issued by any political party or candidate during the election campaign through bulk SMS, voice messages, electronic media TV and cable channels, audio-visual political campaigns in public places, internet and social media, radio, e-paper, and cinema halls without the prior approval of the MCMC.

Similarly, no political advertisement may appear in print media on polling day or the day before polling without prior approval from the MCMC.

She appealed to all contesting candidates to strictly follow the instructions of the Election Commission and refrain from publishing or broadcasting any political advertisements through electronic media, social media, bulk SMS, e-papers without prior approval of the MCMC.

On the occasion, Member Secretary of the MCMC and DPRO Inderjeet Singh, MCMC team members Naveen Kalia, Ajit Pal Singh, Rajinder Kaur, Arshpreet Singh, Amit Kumar and others were present.