With public relations firms being used by parties to shape public opinion online, the Election Commission is formulating a social media policy to address the issue. "It has come to the notice of the commission that paid operators run by PR firms are being actively deployed to shape public opinion online," said Election Commissioner OP Rawat. He was speaking at a consultation on electoral and political reforms organised by the Association for Democratic Reforms on Thursday.
"With increasing spread of mobile internet technology, the influence of social media was also increasing and it was high time that it was recognised as media and its content was monitored.I am happy to state that the EC is formulating its social media policy and we are hopeful that it is likely to address such issues," Rawat added.
He reiterated the commission's objections to the Electoral Bonds introduced by the Government, saying it might lead to the use of black money in electoral politics. Rawat said the recent amendments in election and income tax laws make it clear that any donation received by a political party through an electoral bond had been taken out of the ambit of reporting in the Contribution Report which political parties have to submit to the EC.
He said the implications of this step could be retrograde as far as transparency was concerned "Furthermore, where contributions received through Electoral Bonds are not reported, a perusal of contribution reports will not make it clear whether the party in question has taken any donations in violation of Section 29B of the Representation of People Act, which prohibits political parties from taking donations from government companies and foreign sources," he added.
Rawat also said the poll panel had expressed apprehension that the abolition of the relevant provisions of the Companies Act of removing a cap of 7.5 per cent of profit for political donations could lead to money laundering by setting up of shell companies for diverting funds for donations to parties.