Candidates’ participation in social media being monitored

Bhopal: Election Commission of India is alive to monitoring of social media during Vidhan Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh. C-Desk firm of Pune is monitoring social media. Prevalence of web and social media has increased over the years. Social media has mainly 5 associate projects including Wikipedia, blogs and microblogs like Twitter, material providing communities like Youtube and apps like virtual games.

Provisions of election-related laws for use of social media in electioneering just like other publicity media. Every candidate has to file an affidavit in Form 26 at the time of filing nomination papers. In para 3 of this affidavit, candidate will have to furnish e-mail ID, if any. The commission has expected from candidates to also provide their authentic social media accounts.
The commission has clarified that as per sub-section (1) of section 77 of Representation of People Act, every candidate will have to maintain account of election expenses made by him or person authorised by him from the date of announcement of elections till declaration of results.