Mumbai: The Election Commission of India (ECI) faced the heat on Tuesday when the Bombay High Court pulled up the polling authority for dragging its feet over issuing guidelines for regulation of political advertisements on social media platforms, 48 hours before the elections.
The HC said it would be passing appropriate orders to ensure the ECI regulate the rampant paid political content posted on social media platforms. A division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Nitin Jamdar was irked over the ECI for seeking adjournments in the matter and not clarifying its stand on the issue
. “We fail to understand what is wrong with the ECI. Why is it seeking only adjournments in this matter which is a serious and important issue?” asked CJ Patil. “We want to know what is the apprehension of the ECI? Why is it not passing any order or issuing any guidelines?” the bench said.
To this, ECI counsel Pradeep Rajagopal clarified that there were no apprehensions as such. Rajagopal was interrupted by CJ Patil, saying, “But your (ECI) conduct from the very first day (in this matter) apparently shows that you are hesitant to introduce some regulations.”
The bench was seized with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the ECI to regulate fake news in the form of paid political ads on social media. The PIL by advocate Sagar Suryavanshi has urged the bench to direct the ECI to ensure that just like offline campaigning is barred, 48 hours before the polls, a similar arrangement is made to ensure there is a total black out of social media platforms, in this period.
