Former chief election commissioner M.S. Gill, who introduced free broadcast time on Doordarshan and Akashvani in 1998 for political parties to campaign, told The Telegraph that the facility must now be extended to private channels to ensure a level playing field.
The Election Commission of India (EC) declared polls to five states on Saturday and banned rallies till at least January 15, in addition to imposing curbs on physical campaigning.
In its “Conduct of General Elections/ Bye-elections during Covid Revised Broad Guidelines, 2022”, issued on Saturday, the poll panel advised parties and candidates to, “campaign as much as possible through digital/ virtual/ media platforms/ mobile-based mode instead of physical mode”.
Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav reacted in Lucknow, saying: “The Election Commission should give some funds to political parties so that they can create a step-up infrastructure because we cannot compete with the BJP infrastructure…. The EC should ensure that regional parties also get space on national TV channels, regional channels and social media platforms during elections.”
Since 1998, national and state parties have been getting a minimum of 45 minutes’ airtime each on DD and AIR channels that cover the area where elections are due, and additional time according to their performance in the preceding poll — according to a formula devised by Gill.
This is spread out in a maximum of 15-minute slots per session and continues for the period between the last day of filing nominations and the end of the campaign. This is paid for by the public exchequer. The time given to parties was doubled before the Assembly polls last year to promote virtual campaigning.
“When I introduced this, even private channels had come to me and said they were interested in voluntarily offering some time for parties to broadcast their views. With the vast number of channels today, all of which do not offer adequate time to all parties, I would like them also within this scheme. If a CEC (chief election commissioner) asks, they can’t say no. Private channels cannot be allowed to roll over towards one party,” Gill, who went on to become a Congress minister at the Centre, told this newspaper.
The regulations on party broadcasts on public frequencies disallow “a) Criticism of other countries; b) Attack on religions or communities; c) Anything obscene or defamatory; d) Incitement of violence; e) Anything amounting to contempt of court; f) Aspersion against the integrity of the President and Judiciary; g) Anything affecting the unity, sovereignty and integrity of the Nation; h) Any criticism by name of any person.”
Other former CECs say channels today were unlikely to agree to Gill’s proposal.
S.Y. Quraishi said: “At the most, they (channels) can be persuaded to offer special (discounted) rates on a uniform basis. I don’t think it can be forced on the private sector.”
He asked: “Was the playing field level before rallies were banned? Some parties have more money. Can small parties organise rallies as big as ruling parties? What can be done easily, if there is political will, is to impose a limit on expenditure on political parties like we have for candidates.”
T.S. Krishna Murthy, another former CEC, said: “Channels are looking for business, and I do not know whether the authority of the EC can extend to them and whether courts would accept it.”