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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

19/05/24 03:52 AM IST

Rules for political parties to use state-funded media during polls

In News
  • Two Opposition leaders, Sitaram Yechury and G Devarajan, recently slammed Doordarshan and All India Radio for ‘censoring’ their speeches. Here is what the rulebook officially says.
Allocation of time on state media
  • Recognised political parties have been allowed to freely use state-owned television and radio during polls since the 1998 Lok Sabha elections.
  • The ECI decides how much time each recognised national and state party will be allotted prior to the start of the election campaign.
  • National parties, all put together, get a minimum of 10 hours of telecasting time on Doordarshan’s national channel, and at least 15 hours on its regional channels. They also get 10 hours of broadcasting time on the national hook-up of AIR and 15 hours of broadcasting on regional AIR stations.
  • State parties, all put together, get a minimum of 30 hours of telecasting time on the appropriate regional Doordarshan channel and AIR radio station.
  • For national parties, out of the 10 hours prescribed, a total of 4.5 hours (45 minutes each) was allocated in both Doordarshan and AIR.
  • The remaining 5.5 hours was further allocated on the basis of voteshare in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Similar formulae was followed while allocating time to state parties.
Guidelines on speeches’ contents
  • Parties and their speakers are expected to submit transcripts of their speeches three to four days before recording — these have to be approved by the concerned authorities in the respective AIR and Doordarshan stations.
  • The ECI’s guidelines forbid “criticism of other countries; attack on religions or communities; anything obscene or defamatory; incitement of violence; anything amounting to contempt of court; aspersions against the integrity of the President and judiciary; anything affecting the unity, sovereignty and integrity of the nation; and any criticism by name of any person”.
Source- Indian Express

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