Kohima, 4 April (MTNews): The Election Commission of India said that instances of advertisements of offending and misleading nature published in print media have been brought to the notice of the Commission in the past.
In order to ensure that such instances are not repeated, the Commission, in exercise of its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution and all other powers enabling it in this behalf, has directed that no political party, candidate, organization, or person shall publish any advertisement in the print media on poll day and one day prior to poll day, unless the contents of political advertisements are pre-certified by the MCMC Committee at the State/District level, as the case may be. It stated that this will apply to political advertisements published in print media circulating in the States/UTs going to polls.
The ECI also informed that the applicants mentioned above shall have to apply to MCMC no later than two days prior to the proposed date of publication of the advertisement.
The Commission further directed that to facilitate the process of pre-certification of newspaper advertisements, MCMC at the State/district level should be immediately alerted and activated to examine and pre-certify all such advertisements received from political parties, candidates, and others. It should also ensure that decisions by MCMC are made expeditiously.
The above direction of the Commission is also being brought to the notice of Presidents of all political parties, contesting candidates, newspapers in the State, and all mass media for general information and strict compliance.
These directions shall come into force immediately.