Nagaland’s CEO holds meeting with media houses

Our Correspondent

Kohima | January 22

Nagaland’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) today held a meeting with the representatives of both print and electronic media in the state in the conference hall of Kohima Deputy Commissioner with regard to the provision of Section 127 A of the R.P Act 1951 instruction of Election Commission of India (ECI) on advertisement and paid news and the guidelines issued by ECI, PCI and NBSA on media related matters concerning election.  

CEO Abhijit Sinha said that any advertisement on political nature have to obtain pre-certification.  

Media Certification and Monitoring Committees (MCMC) have been set up at district levels and state level.   To deal with the menace of ‘Paid News,’ a mechanism has been laid out with three tier media certification and monitoring committees at district, state and ECI level.  

The Commission vide its Order No.491/media Policy/2015/Communication, dated 28th May 2015, decided that bulk SMSs/Voice messages on phone and in election campaigning shall be in the purview of pre-certification of election advertisements as in case of all electronic media/TV channels/cable network/radio including private FM channels, cinema halls/audio-visual displays in public places and political advertisement in social media.   Any political content in the form of messages/comments/photos/video being posted/uploaded on the blog/self-accounts on website/social media website will not be treated as political advertisement and therefore would not require pre-certification. However, political advertisements issued in e-papers of any newspaper shall invariably require pre-certification by the concerned committee.  

If the advertisement is with the consent or knowledge of the candidate, it will be treated to have been authorized by the candidate(s) concerned and will be accounted for in the election expenses account of the candidate(s).   If the advertisement is not with the authority of the candidate, then action may be taken for prosecution of the publisher for violation of Section 171 H of IPC- (incurring expenditure on advertisement without written authority from the candidate(s) concerned).