JOIN USThe Delhi Electoral Office is closely monitoring the political battle unfolding on the information highway and has issued guidelines for use of social media which has emerged as a powerful medium to reach out to voters.
The election office has defined social media as a medium of interaction among people where they create, share or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities.
The candidates for the December 4 Assembly elections will be required to give details of their email IDs and social media accounts at the time of filing affidavits, said an official.
Every candidate and political party will have to apply to Media Monitoring Committees or designated officer for pre-certification of all political advertisements on electronic media, including social media websites and print media.
“Political advertisements will not be released on websites, including social media, by political parties or candidates without pre-certification from competent authorities,” said Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev.
Expenditure on advertisements on the social media will also have to be maintained separately, an official said.
“The social media has been broadly divided into five types including collaborative projects like Wikipedia, blogs and micro blogs like twitter, content communities like YouTube, social networking sites like Facebook and virtual gaming world like applications,” said Dev.
The guidelines have been notified on the instructions of Election Commission of India.