Panels to monitor ads in media by political parties

Shimla, March 19

Chief Electoral Officer Manish Garg today said media certification and monitoring committees have been formed at the state and district-level to monitor advertisements in electronic and print media by political parties.

He said the committees would also take action on the complaints or cases related to paid news. “And if the case of paid news is verified, then its expense will be added to the election expenditure of the candidate, and will also be reported to the Press Council of India through the commission,” he added.

Garg said that the commission had made provisions for establishing media centres at state and district-level for the convenience of the media personnel. Besides, the commission has also allocated free air time to political parties by public broadcasters on the basis of past performance and passes for counting centres and for polling stations.

He said the Election Commission of India had made provisions to confer the National Media Award for Voter Education. Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dalip Negi, master trainer Munshi Sharma and representatives of print and electronic media participated in the workshop.