Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Election Commission gags electronic media on poll coverage



INDIAN ELECTION NEWS: To avoid any type of misuse of electronic media, the Election Commission said on Tuesday that the electronic media cannot telecast anything that has the tendency of influencing voters in areas where elections are to take place, in the 48 hours preceding voting.

Election Commission has also banned dissemination of results of opinion and exit polls by the media in a separate order. This gag on the electronic media is issued under section 126 of the Representation of People's Act. It prohibits displaying of any election matter on television or any related medium 48 hours before poll. This step is taken because it has been seen as unsuitable for multi-phase elections as well as innocent of the ways the media functions.

The TV channels with their satellite uplink beam programmes of all-India relevance which are completely uncircumscribed by the geographical division that the commission wants to enforce.

The step also carries the danger of harassment of the media by local authorities. We can cross check the case of a national news channel that may show a programme on starvation deaths in Andhra Pradesh or else impact of Salwa Judum in the Chhattisgarh which, like most of others, have multi-phase polls.

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Snippets of Election Commission gags electronic media on poll coverage: Indian Election News, Electronic Media, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Multi-Phase Polls, Election Commission

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