People's Democracy

CPI(M) URGES EC

Reimpose Ban On Political Parties

Advertisements On TV

Following is the letter written by the CPI(M) general secretary, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, to the chief election commissioner, T S Krishanmurthi, regarding advertisements by political parties on TV on February 20, 2004

WE are writing to you regarding the use of advertising on television by political parties for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.  On behalf of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), we wish to place the following views for the consideration of the Commission:

1. In 1999, the Election Commission had banned the TV advertising by political parties as in the previous elections. The EC had noted that whereas the EC had ensured allocation of equitable time slots to recognised parties on Doordarshan, further advertising on TV would be undesirable because only a handful of major political parties could do so leaving out smaller parties. The EC had noted that this would seriously distort the electoral process and "in a poor country like India, democracy would be totally disturbed by money power." This decision was however reversed by the EC just before the elections to the five state assemblies held in December, 2003.

2.  The CPI(M) is of the view that the earlier decision of the EC was correct and should be reissued for the following reasons:

•   Advertising on television is very expensive. The prime time slots for even a few minutes would     be in the range of lakhs of rupees. This would open the floodgates for use of big money and  vitiate the polls. At a time when serious efforts are required to limit the influence of money, this would be a counterproductive step.

• The next factor to be considered is that this will create a serious inequality between political parties. Those parties with access to corporate funding (which has been legalised now) and other sources will have an unfair advantage given the reach of the electronic media. Further, we are witnessing how the Vajpayee government is using the Shining India campaign as a surrogate election campaign.

• The EC is already providing for time on the Doordarshan and All India Radio for recognised parties to conduct election broadcasts.  The CPI(M) would like this extended not just to recorded speeches but also slots for propagating the parties policies and issues. This will obviate the need for expensive advertising.

• There is no regulation of the advertising on private television channels.  It will not be possible for the EC to monitor all the advertising which goes on in a host of channels.

• The Election Commission should also consider how to regulate advertising in the print media by political parties. While the newspaper advertising may be less expensive compared to television, still extensive use of ads in big newspapers is costly.  In such a case, it will be necessary to include the cost of the print media advertising incurred by the party and candidates in the candidates’ expenditure in the constituency. As per present law, only travel expenses of leaders is exempted from inclusion in the candidates’ expenditure.

Promotion of poll advertisements through television will lead to a situation, as in the United States of America where millions of dollars are spent by Presidential candidates and advertising expenses forms a big part of election expenditure.

The CPI(M) would urge the Commission to reimpose the ban on advertising on television by political parties. Since the Commission is considering the poll schedule, we request you to take up this matter of television advertising alongside. (INN)