The Election Commission of India (ECI) has declared the program of the General Election to Legislative Assemblies in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and bye-elections in 6 states recently where in the rules have been spelt out for the political parties and independent contestants.

ECI has made a requirement of all registered political party and any group of organization/ association or any contesting candidate/individual seeking to be pre-certified by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) on all political advertisements in the electronic media (e.g. TV, Radio, AV displays at public places, e-papers, bulk SMS/ voice messages) and social media.

Any individual or competing candidates may seek advertisement certification at District MCMC. A certification of such advertisements can be sought by all registered political parties with their respective head offices located in a State/UT by the State Level MCMC. The applications have to be submitted in accordance with the given timelines. The State level too constitutes an Appellate Committee headed by the CEO to listen to the appeals against the decision of District/State MCMC.

Without the prior certification of the MCMC, political parties/ candidates must not release any political adverts on internet based media/ websites such as social media websites.

MCMCs will also maintain a high alert on possible incidents of paid news in the media and act accordingly.

Moreover, the candidates must provide the information regarding their original social media profiles in their affidavit during nomination.

Section 77(1) of Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the guidelines of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India states that political parties are also required to present a statement of expenditure incurred on campaigning using internet including social media websites to the ECI within 75 days after completion of assembly elections.

This spending among other things shall involve payment to internet companies and websites to carry adverts and campaign related spending on content development and operational spending incurred to maintain their social media accounts.

To this effect, the representatives of the Social Media Platforms (SMPs), the CEOs, State Police Nodal Officers and state IT Nodal Officers of all poll-bound States/UT were held to sensitise them of the above provisions and to validate and ensure a timely action against reported cases of misinformation, disinformation and fake-news during elections on March 19, 2026.

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