Social media regulations needed to have fair elections: Poll experts

Social media should be included in the ambit of election rules related to print and electronic media and there should be proper regulation of their content by the Election Commission to ensure free and fair polls in the country, a group of poll experts and advocates said Monday.

Addressing a press conference ahead of first phase of Lok Sabha election on April 11, former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi said there cannot be a separate law for social media which should be treated as any other mass media.

He said political leaders and parties must get prior approval of the EC before posting anything on social media websites and they should also declare the expenditure incurred in using social media.

"Social media is also media. Whatever guidelines are meant for media- print and electronic- are applicable to social media websites also. There cannot be a separate law for it," said Quraishi, who was the CEC from July 2010 to June 2012.

Urging political parties to not "misuse social media or misguide voters by spreading fake news", Quraishi said, "Whatever you are spending on social media should be declared and the content to be posted on social media should also be approved by the Election Commission first.

"There is a committee to approve this - Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) which will have social media expert also."
His view was shared by Mendiratta who said, "There are channels like Jaya TV and others for publicity of parties in south India. This has been happening and it is part of their own publicity. They can do it."