What is the issue?
The Election Commission of India (ECI) holds that paid news impairs the process of free and fair elections.
What is the observation?
- Paid news refers to the news or analysis appearing in any media for a price in cash or kind.
- It plays a significant but negative role in the context of free and fair elections.
- It also involves under-reporting of election expenses by candidates.
- EC found 42 cases of paid news in the election of BJP’s Narottam Mishra in 2008 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.
How is paid news being dealt?
- There is no specific law against “paid news” in India.
- But the poll panel depend on Section 10A of the Representation of Peoples Act (RPA).
- It deals with the misreporting of funds related to election expenses.
- E.g. In 2017, the ECI ordered Mishra’s disqualification and barred him from contesting elections for 3 years.
- It argued that Mishra knew of, and by implication authorised the publication of the “reports”.
- This should be seen as political advertising under Section 77 of the RPA.
- So, the expenditure incurred or authorised on this head should have been listed in the submissions to the poll regulator.
- But Mishra had “failed to lodge a correct and true account of his election expenses”.
What is the court's view?
- The Delhi High Court later set aside Mishra's disqualification.
- It said that the content of a media article or a news feature on particular candidates should not be regulated indirectly through EC's directives.
- It observed that they essentially fall within the domain of free speech.
- So, this eventually restricts the poll regulator from acting against paid news.
What are the demands in place?
- The ECI suggested the Union government that paid news be made an electoral offence under the RPA.
- A Law Commission report from 2015 also recommends amending the RPA to this effect.
- But governments have approached the problem from a press regulation perspective rather than poll regulation.
- E.g. the earlier government brought the Registration of Newspapers and Publications Bill, 2013
- The present government proposed providing for suspension of publication permits for a period of 45 days for erring publications.
What could be done?
- Cracking down on candidates who mislead the electorate through paid news preserves India’s democratic values.
- The ECI has approached the Supreme Court against the Delhi HC order, and so, much depends on which way the SC decides.
- Meanwhile, the government and political parties would do well to gather the will to amend the RPA.
Source: Financial Express
Author: Shankar IAS Academy Bangalore - Best UPSC Coaching Institute