Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Addressing a consultation on electoral and political reforms organised by their Association for Democratic Reforms Election Commissioner OP Rawat on Friday said that soon a social media policy will be formulated.

Rawat pointing out a grave problem faced by the EC said that most of the political parties are using the public relation companies to shape the opinion of the public. He said that “It has come to the notice of the commission that paid operators run by PR firms are being actively deployed to shape public opinion online.” He further added that it is high time now that social networking should be considered as media and should also be monitored and kept a watch on, as with the increasing spread of mobile internet technology, the influence of social media was also increasing.

Talking about politics Rawat said that all that the political parties care about is victory and the morals and ethics mean nothing to them. Elaborating the very motive of democracy he said “Democracy thrives when elections are free, fair and transparent. However, it appears to a cynical common man that we have been scripting a narrative that places a maximum premium on winning at all costs to the total exclusion of ethical considerate ions. In this narrative, poaching of legislators is extolled as smart political management; strategic introduction of money for allurement, tough-minded use of state machinery for intimidation etc are all commended as resourcefulness.”

The remarks of OP Rawat can be seen as a result of the recent commotion and drama created during the Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls. The EC had invalidated votes of two Congress MLAs during Rajya Sabha polls for violating secrecy norms resulting in a very narrow win for Congress candidate Ahmed Patel.

Concluding his speech Rawat said “the winner can commit no sin. A defector crossing over to the ruling camp stands cleansed of all the guilt as also possible criminality”.