Print election ads to be pre-certified by monitoring committees: ECI

In order to ensure a fair campaign environment for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday declared that no political party, candidate or organisation shall publish any advertisement in the print media on the poll day and one day prior to the poll day, unless the contents are pre-certified by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) at the state or district level.

For Bihar, the restricted days are November 5 and 6 (for the first phase) and November 10 and 11 (for the second phase).

Applicants seeking pre-certification for political advertisements in print media must apply to the MCMC not later than two days prior to the proposed date of publication of the advertisement, the poll body has directed further.

To facilitate timely pre-certification, the monitoring committee at the state and district levels have been activated to examine and pre-certify such advertisements, and ensure decisions are made expeditiously, it informed.

The assembly elections in Bihar are to be held in two phases on November 6 and November 11, respectively. The results are to be announced on November 14.