Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Here are the social media usage norms for candidates and platforms announced by the Election Commission

The countdown to 2019 Lok Sabha elections officially began on Sunday, March 10, with the announcement of dates of elections by the Election Commission of India at a press briefing in Delhi. The General elections will be held for 543 Lok Sabha seats on nearly 10 lakh polling booths across the country which higher compared to 9 lakh in 2014, with 84 million more voters will be casting their vote this time, announced the CEC Sunil Arora.

Read: Lok Sabha 2019 Election Dates: Counting To Be Held On 23 May - Here's The Full Schedule For The 2019 Parliamentary Polls For All Phases As Announced By The Election Commission

Here are the social media usage norms for candidates:

• Candidates are required to furnish details of their social media account
• All political advertisement on social media will also require P-certification
• All expenditure on election campaigns for social media will be included in the election expenditure account
• All provision of the moral code of conduct would be applied to the content being posted on social media by candidates of political parties

Based on the recommendations made by the committee appointed by the Election Commission regarding the further enlargement of section 126 of RP in-sync with the new media is made with other stakeholders.

Read: All You Need To Know About The Model Code Of Conduct That Will Come Into Force After EC Announces The Lok Sabha Election Dates

Here are the social media usage norms for the platforms:

• The intermediator i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube have given in writing to ensure any political advertising published on their platforms will be certified from MCMC
• Some IT applications are also being thought of to be united further to make the process less cumbersome. In fact, the commission has taken stock of some applications and maybe it will introduce as a pilot project in some state for a start
• Google and Facebook have also announced verification of political advertisers and achieves with reference to consumer buying
• To keep a check on election violation, menace and fake news, social media platforms have told the election that they have dedicated grievance officer to take necessary action against the content posted on their platform
• Social media platform have committed to take action against content posted by designated officers of Election Commission also so that it does not violates election rules
• Internet and Mobile Association of India is formulating a set of code of ethics for the intimidatory online platform. This is a work in progress