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Advertisement on Television

Last updated on Jun 15, 2022

Television broadcasts on elections must be on general events which are relevant and of common interest to the country, without supporting or criticizing and mocking any other candidate or political party. Then it is not a violation of the MCC. Some examples are1:

  • If there is a live telecast of a cricket match, advertisements showing pictures of politicians cannot be played in between.
  • A political party cannot put up pictures of political leaders while telecasting a live coverage of a conference.
  • A political party cannot screen a movie before the elections regarding the life of a politician as it would influence the viewers to vote for them.

To prevent any form of political advertising, TV Channels and Cable Networks by any registered political party, group, organization, association and individual candidate, have to be pre-certified by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) set up in district and state levels. If the MCMC finds that any advertisement has been made in TV or Cable Network in favour of any candidate without proper permission, they shall inform the Returning Officer (RO) immediately. The RO will then send a notice to the candidate and take action.

  1. Chapter 6, Manual on Model Code of Conduct, available at https://eci.gov.in/files/file/9375-manual-on-model-code-of-conduct/[↩]

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