An NGO, Centre for Accountability and Systematic Change (CASC) on Saturday sent a notice to Election Commission demanding to frame guidelines to regulate the functioning of online social media such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and others ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls 2019.
The legal notice by the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) states that if the Election Commission fails to act the matter will be taken to court.
Notice further said that ‘why should election ads on social media be not verified by EC’
This development has come to light after CASC in its representation to the then Chief Election Commissioner O.P Rawat sought mandatory registration of WhatsApp groups formed by political parties or candidates with the Election Commission.
Election Commission had come up with its first instructions for social media on 25 October.
While Earlier this week, Social Media Giant Facebook on Thursday announced changes to the way political ads appear on its platform, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. As per the new rules, users will be able to see political ads with “Published by” or “Paid for by” disclaimers as specified by the advertisers.
Facebook will also provide more information to the users about the pages running these ads. The social media platform will allow users to view the primary country location of the people who manage Pages running or paying for political ads in India.
Earlier in January last month, Election Commission in a bid to tighten the rules has asked the Central Government to block the Political Ads before 48 hours to voting. This will come in play by amending section 126 of the People’s Representative act.
The General Elections to the Lok Sabha are slated for due in May-April this year.
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