Mohali - Lok Sabha Constituency - Anandpur Sahib Election Expenditure Controller Mrs. Shilpi Sinha said that pre-certificate is mandatory before airing any political propaganda advertisement on electronic and social media. For this purpose, media certification and monitoring committees have been formed at the returning officer level and district level.
  Visiting District Media Monitoring and Certification Committee SAS Nagar along with District Election Officer Ms. Ashika Jain at District Administrative Complex Mohali, the Expenditure Monitor said that nowadays the definition of electronic media is getting wider. Given the broad definition of electronic media, TV/cable channels, bulk SMS and voice messages, cinema halls, internet and social media websites, e-papers, radio channels, political advertisement/audio-visual playing of campaign in public places/ Advertisements related to candidates/parties should be approved by MCMC Committees before airing.
Similarly, the Media Monitoring Cell will also monitor cases of suspected paid news, which will be investigated by the District Committee before being sent to the concerned Returning Officer for reference. The RO shall issue a notice to the concerned candidate within 96 hours of the publication/broadcast/telecast of the complaint to explain/disclose the expenditure incurred for publishing news or similar matters. The candidate has to submit the reply to the notice to the RO within 48 hours of receiving the notice.
He further said that election advertisements in newspapers (print media) a day before polling and on polling day need to get pre-certificate from VMMC.
The expenditure watchdog sought cooperation from candidates and the media, urging them to shun paid news, which misleads the public and hinders people's ability to form an informed opinion.
ADC Viraj S Tidke, Sonam Chaudhary and Damanjit Singh Mann were also present with them.