Election commission can't control paid news during elections: SY Qureshi

Chief election commissioner of India SY Quraishi today said the commission cannot control media players indulging in paid news practices during the elections.

"Our role comes in picture only when the candidate exceeds the expenditure ceiling. We cannot question the media, our powers extend only to candidates," Quraishi told reporters here.

He said it is for the Press Council of India (PCI) to set guidelines for the media.

When pointed out that the electronic media is out of PCI's ambit, Quraishi said there is a lacunae and a special body needs to be formed covering all the media.

The chief election commissioner said the paid news issue extends beyond the election period.

"Paid news and money power are a big concern for the commission. We are trying to address these issues through proper ways," he said.

"Money power and paid news have attained serious proportion. In some states, it's widespread," the chief election commissioner said.

He said a special expenditure monitoring cell has been formed and detailed guidelines are prepared to control the money power. 

Responding to a question, Quraishi said the commission is also probing the issue of names of foreigners being included in the voters' list. Goa is among the states which faces this problem, he added.

Besides Goa, a few other states have also pointed out similar instances of foreigners getting enrolled as voters, he said.

"Each and every complaint received by the commission is investigated. We see that each and every person is attended to," he added.