The Bombay High Court urged the Election Commission of India to take steps to ensure that there is no promotion or campaigning carried out by political parties or individuals on social media or online platforms 48 hours before the forthcoming Lok Sabha Elections.

A division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice NM Jamdar was told by the Election Commission (EC) that based on a committee report, it has recommended amendment of Section 126 (b) of the Representation of Peoples Act which prohibits public meetings, processions, campaigns 48 hours before polling. However, the amendment will have to be done by the Parliament.

Responding to the EC recommendation, the bench said. “Amendments to the act would take a lot of time. What does the Election Commission propose to do about the issues raised in the petition till then? Elections are coming up. The Commission should have some answers. You (EC) had a constitutional obligation to hold fair elections and hence should take steps to prohibit advertisements or paid political content on social media.”

The EC committee, headed by Umesh Sinha (Senior Deputy Election Commissioner), in a report recommended that intermediaries operating in India should voluntarily undertake information, education and communication campaigns to build awareness for their users about unlawful conduct during elections and especially during the prohibited 48-hour period.

During the prohibitory period, action for removing disabling content should be taken instantly and latest within three hours, on orders from Commission. No intermediaries shall host any political advertisement without prior approval of the Media Certification and Monitoring committee. They must facilitate transparency in regards to political advertisement by giving details of sponsors, expenditure and target in aggregated manner. It has also recommended that internet media will make reasonable efforts to establish mechanism to curb misinformation and to prevent degradation of the information environment during an election.

The direction was give during hearing of petition filed by lawyer Sagar Suryavanshi, seeking directions to the Commission to prohibit all persons, whether politicians or private individuals, from posting advertisements related to politics or elections, or paid political content on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, 48 hours before the election day.

Advocate Abhinav Chandrachud and Sagar Kursija appearing for the petitioner have argued that the social networking sites, such as Facebook, had advertising policies in the UK and the US, where all advertisements and paid content were subjected to strict verification process. A similar policy must be implemented in India too.
The EC recommended changes in Section 126 (b) of the Representation of Peoples Act which prohibits public meetings, processions, campaigns 48 hours before polling. 

As carried in DNA