Kohima, January 31 (MExN): The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Nagaland, in a notification, has stated that all advertisements of political nature on TV channels and Cable Networks need to be pre-certified.
At the state-level, it needs to be pre-certified by the Media Certification & Monitoring Committee (MCMC) formed under the Chairmanship of Additional CEO and if it pertains to districts, it would be certified by the MCMC Commission constituted in the district headed by Deputy Commissioners and District Election Officers, it said.
Further, it informed that the Supreme Court as well as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed the CEO of every State/Union Territory to constitute a Committee to deal with applications by political parties and organisations.
The Committee constituted will entertain applications for certification for advertisement on television channel and cable network by the following registered political parties and organisations or group of persons or associations having their headquarters/registered offices in that State/Union Territory.
The ECI has also directed CEOs of every State/UT to constitute a Committee to entertain complaints/grievances of any political party or candidate or any other person in regard to the decision to grant or refuse certification of an advertisement, the notification said.
The applications for certification of any advertisements by every registered political party and every contesting candidate shall be made to this Committee, it added.
The Commission further informed that while taking a decision on the applications for certification of an advertisement, it will be open for the aforementioned Committee constituted or the Designated Officer or the review Committee constituted to direct deletion/modification of any part of the advertisement, it said.
And if it is satisfied that the advertisement meets the requirements of the law and in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court, it should issue a certificate to the effect of the advertisement concerned is fit for telecast, it added.
As per the State DIPR, the CEO Nagaland in the notification stated that the directions of the Supreme Court should be strictly complied with by everyone concerned and are bindingon all the political parties, candidates, persons, group of persons or Trusts who propose to insert the advertisements in the electronic media, including the cable networks and/or television channels as well as cable operators.
Reiterates guidelines for print ads
Meanwhile, in another notification, the CEO Nagaland has reminded all concerned on the issue of pre-certification of political advertisements in print media on the day of and one-day prior to the poll.
As per the notification issued on Tuesday, in a letter dated October 19, 2020, the Commission had noted that instances of advertisements of offending and misleading nature in print media on such days in the past had vitiated the entire election process in the last stage of the election.
The affected candidates and parties will not have any opportunity of providing clarification/rebuttal in such cases, it said in the notification.
Accordingly, to ensure that such instances are not repeated, and no untoward incident takes place because of any inflammatory, misleading, or hate advertisements, the Commission then directed that no political party or candidate or any other organisation or person shall publish any advertisement in the print media on the poll day and one day prior to poll day, unless the contents of the advertisement proposed to be published by the political parties, candidates, etc., are pre-certified by the MCMC Committee at the state/district level, it added.
The ECI also called for immediate activation of MCMC at State/district level to facilitate the process of pre-certification.
In view of the above direction, the CEO Nagaland issued to notification to draw the attention of presidents of all political parties, contesting candidates, and newspapers in the states, as per the State DIPR.
The notification is also issued in order to publicise widely for general information and strict compliance, it added.
