Thiruvananthapuram: Keeping in line with Election Commission of India‘s directive, state-level media certificate and monitoring committee (MCMC) has started operations ahead of the assembly elections. The state-level committee, chaired by additional chief electoral officer (CEO) P B Nooh, will handle the certification of political advertisements being broadcast by parties on visual and social media, as well as monitoring paid news.If the committee’s decision requires a review, an appeal can be made to the appellate committee, chaired by CEO.“Recognised political parties must submit applications to the committee three days before publishing advertisements, while unregistered parties and individuals must submit them seven days in advance,” said a statement from the CEO’s office on Friday.Applications for certification must be submitted to MCMC in a specified format, along with two electronic copies of the advertisement and two certified copies of its transcript. Advertisements requiring changes must be resubmitted to the committee for approval after incorporating the suggested modifications. Ads not approved by the committee will be considered a violation of the code of conduct.Applications currently under consideration by the state committee were reviewed, with approvals granted to eligible ones and suggestions provided for those needing changes. “Applications in the specified format must be submitted to the CEO’s office by 11am for consideration by the committee. If visuals created using AI technology are used for campaigning, they must clearly display “AI Generated” on the visual,” said the statement. The CEO emphasised the need for cooperation from all political parties and candidates for smooth election conduct and adherence to the guidelines of Election Commission of India.
