Amid concern over the recent phenomenon of paid news and growing use of money power in polls, the Election Commission will hold day-long deliberations with all parties on Monday in a bid to eliminate electoral malpractices.
Six national parties and over 50 recognised state political parties have been invited for the meeting which will also take up criminalisation of politics and the use of Electronic Voting Machines, an issue which has drawn sharp focus.
Chief Election Commissioner S. Y. Quraishi and other two Election Commissioners V. S. Sampath and H. S. Brahma would hear the views of the leaders of political parties in order to address these issues.
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The EC would hold separate consultations with the national parties and the state parties.
Expressing concern over the paid news syndrome, the Press Council of India (PCI) has recently defined paid news as “any news or analysis appearing in any media (print and electronic) for a price in cash or kind as consideration“.
The PCI has undertaken a study of the phenomenon of paid news during general elections of Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and has come out with a set of recommendations to stop such malpractices.
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Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is embroiled in a paid news controversy after the Bharatiya Janata Party filed a complaint against him in this regard before the EC.
Mr. Quraishi had said recently that the poll panel would accord priority to restricting the role of money power in elections, which has become a major challenge.