EC sets ground rules for social media, Election commisssion,Social Media,Social media in politics

EC sets ground rules for social media, Election commisssion,Social Media,Social media in politics, Facebook,Twitter, Internet,EC, India,Upcoming election updates.

INDORE: The Election Commission has tightened rules regarding social media by political parties following a series of complaints against unwarranted messages and pictures being posted on Facebook, Twitter and the Internet.

The decision has come after issues related to campaigning on social media websites were brought before the commission. Organizations watching the poll process closely have predicted that social networking websites would influence outcome for some assembly seats.

A set of guidelines has been made available to the candidates "Things are becoming tough for us," said a senior politician and a ticket aspirant. The candidates have to give details about their social media interaction while filing their nominations. This apart, they will also have to seek prior permission to upload any video on YouTube.

Opinion poll | Candidtate list | Election Schedule |  National News .

Three days prior to social media campaigning, candidates will have to take approval of media management and monitoring committee of the election office. The expenditure will be counted in election expenses. For uploading obscene or objectionable items on websites and violation of model code of conduct, action will be initiated.

"This time, nomination forms will have a column where contesting candidates will have to provide details of their social media accounts. The EC has issued guidelines with regards to campaigning on social media websites," said deputy district election officer Sharad Shrotriya.

All political advertisements proposed to be posted on internet/social media websites will have to be pre-certified just like advertisements put out on electronic media by the state and district-level media certification and monitoring committees.

Expenditure on social media campaigning will be counted in election expenses. A statement of expenditure must be filed after polls under Section 77 of Representation of People's Act. The poll watchdog clarified provisions of model code would apply to social media campaign run during polls. In other words, these campaigns cannot make any personal attacks or promote communal hatred.

Acknowledging growing use of social media for political campaigns, the EC guidelines have clubbed social media under five broad categories: collaborative projects (Wikipedia), blogs and micro-blogs (Twitter), content communities (YouTube), social networking sites (Facebook) and virtual game worlds (Apps).

source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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