The Chief Electoral Officer, Dr Rajat Kumar, has warned that equipment will be seized directly if any political advertisement of a candidate/party is displayed on electronic media without clearance from Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC).
He asked political parties, contesting candidates, electronic media, including social media channels, cable-network operators, and private publishers etc to strictly adhere to the Election Commission guideline that a pre-certification (clearance) should be obtained from the MCMC before releasing any advertisement/appeal for display.
The CEO said here on Saturday that the parties and candidates/supporters, campaigners/star-campaigners and others should obtain the MCMC certification for their advertisements. On the other hand, the electronic media, including social media channels, cable network operator etc should insist on the certification by MCMC before telecasting/broadcasting the same. They should also ensure that all such advertisements etc were specially indicated at a prominent place as advertisement/prakatana (announcement) without fail.
The MCMC, besides certifying and checking paid news, should also assist in enforcement of media-related regulations under Representation of People Act. It should scan the media – newspapers, print/electronic media, cable network, Internet, mobile network for suspected cases of paid news cases referred to it by the Expenditure Observers. The MCMC, constituted at State and district levels as per the Election Commission and Supreme Court directions, should scan, review scrutinise and verify the advertisements/paid news, overt or covert.