Political advertisements on TV permitted with caveats

New Delhi: Political parties have been permitted by the Supreme Court to advertise on television channels, but only after the Election Commission (EC) has cleared them

A three-judge bench, headed by the Chief Justice of India, V N Khare, said that political parties, candidates or any other person intending to insert advertisements in the electronic media would have to submit the contents of the advertisement along with its transcript to the EC or its nominated official for clearance.

The EC has been empowered to seize the equipment of the TV channel or the cable operator showing illegal advertisements. The order shall remain in force from April 16 till May 10.

For the first phase of elections, the Court said that clearances should be obtained two days before the proposed date of telecast while for the remaining phases of the elections, the advertisements should be submitted to the EC for clearance at least three days before the proposed date of telecast.

Anybody inserting advertisements in electronic media would also have to give an affidavit to the Election Commissioner stating the cost of production, total cost of advertisement, whether the advertisement is for a particular party or a candidate, the advertisement issued by persons or a trust have to state whether it was funded by a political party or for the benefit of candidates. The Court has made it mandatory for all those intending to insert political advertisement to make payment only through cheques and demand draft and not in cash.