EC drafts timeline for fast action against paid news

Sources said the Commission has planned to empower the state as well as district-level media cell and monitoring committees (MCMC) to take suo motu cognizance of suspected paid news published/broadcast/ telecast during the elections.

Earlier,there was no timeline for returning officers to issue notice to candidates or for candidates to reply to the notices.

As per the draft proposal,on reference from the district MCMC,the returning officer shall send notice to the candidates within 48 hours of publication/broadcast/telecast/receipt of complaint to explain or disclose the expenditure incurred for publishing the ‘news’ or similar matter,or to the state as to why the expenditure should not be computed as per standard rate and added to the candidate’s expenditure. The same timeline will apply when the state-level MCMC takes up cases suo motu or on the basis of complaints.

As per the proposal,the district-level MCMC shall decide on the complaint expeditiously and convey to the candidate or the political party its final decision. In case no reply is received by the MCMC from the candidate within 48 hours of serving of notice,the decision of MCMC will be final. If decision of MCMC is not acceptable to the candidate,he may appeal to the state-level MCMC within 48 hours of receipt of decision,and also inform the district MCMC about it.

The state-level MCMC shall dispose of the case within 48 hours of receipt of appeal and convey the decision to the candidate and the district MCMC.

The candidate may appeal against the decision of state MCMC to ECI within 48 hours of receiving of order from the Committee. The decision of ECI will be final. ECI has proposed to complete the entire process within election period.

“Candidates often do not reply to MCMCs’ notices for a long time which delays the disposal of paid news-related cases. ECI has sought feedback on a proposal about setting a timeline for issuing or replying to such notices,” said Umesh Sinha,Chief Electoral Officer,Uttar Pradesh.

The EC has also proposed that when the district- or state-level MCMC or ECI decide that it was a “paid news” case,such cases shall be conveyed to Press Council of India (PCI) for further action in relation to the media concerned.

In a glaring case of paid news action,EC had in October 2011 disqualified then Bisauli MLA Umlesh Yadav for being chosen as,and for being a member of either House of Parliament or of state Assembly for three years. The “alleged” paid news in that case was published in newspapers during the 2007 Assembly elections.

During the recent Assembly elections in UP,around 58 suspected cases of paid news were reported in different districts. But all of them were disposed of without action against candidates as complaints in few of these cases were found baseless whereas candidates in other cases had agreed to include the amount paid for news in their expenditure account.