Maintain record of expenditure incurred by parties, candidates on ads, Election Commission to social media

In a first, the Election Commission of India has asked social networking sites to maintain a record of the expenditure incurred by political parties and candidates on advertisements. This has to be produced when the EC requests them to do so.

"The commission has sent letters to all leading social networking sites asking them to ensure that contents displayed in the ads given by political parties during the electoral process is not "unlawful or malicious or in violation of the model code of conduct," said Akshay Rout, director general, ECI, who is looking into this aspect during the 2014 polls.

All major political parties have been using social networking sites as part of their campaign strategy, particularly to woo young voters. In the recent Delhi assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party used Facebook and Twitter in a big way to attract attention. Similarly, BJP's NaMo campaign is very active on all such sites.

On Friday, the election commissioner of India, HS Brahma, who highlighted the need for scrutinising the social media, cited a complaint the commission had received from a Pune-based politician, who objected to the language used against a particular community on such sites.

Sources in the EC said the letter has asked social networking sites to get pre-certification from the Media Certification and Monitoring Committees at district and state levels before uploading poll-based ads. Candidates are required to provide details of their social media accounts while filing nominations.

Rout, however, admitted that monitoring contents in social media was an uphill task, but asserted that every effort would be made to maintain decorum in the campaign and ensure a level playing field.

In the letter, EC has said internet-based media will have to "actively scrutinise" political advertisement before publishing them. "In case any unlawful content comes to the notice of the election machinery, it would be removed forthwith."

The EC had, earlier, made it mandatory for parties and candidates to keep details of the expenditure incurred on advertisements in social media as that would be added to their election expenditure budget.