As per the State Election Commission’s guidelines, multiple election-related cells have been activated for the civic polls. The MCMC will play a crucial role in preventing paid news being disguised as editorial content and in ensuring compliance with the Model Code of Conduct. The committee members include Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch, Pimpri-Chinchwad) Pradeep Jadhav, Code of Conduct Cell Head and Deputy Collector Surekha Mane, Deputy Director of the Information and Public Relations Department Anna Bodade, and Deputy Law Officer Rajesh Agale.
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Commissioner Hardikar stated that the committee will also monitor hate speech, content violating the Model Code of Conduct, and material that could disturb public order, morality or decency. The committee’s central office has been set up at the Information and Public Relations Department in the PCMC’s main administrative building at Pimpri.
Clarifying rules related to social media, Hardikar said expressing personal political opinions on individual social media handles will generally not be treated as advertisements. However, such content must not violate laws related to public order, defamation or contempt of court. During the Model Code of Conduct period, no individual can promote or advertise a political party or candidate on social media without written permission from the concerned party or candidate. All such advertisements will require prior certification, and the expenditure will be added to the candidate’s or party’s election account.
Applications for pre-certification must be submitted to the committee at least five working days before the proposed date of publication or broadcast. Application formats and required documents are available on the municipal corporation’s website and via QR codes displayed at all election officers’ offices.
Printed media advertisements do not require pre-certification, but must comply with the Model Code of Conduct and relevant laws. Hardikar also noted that exit polls or opinion poll results cannot be published from the end of the campaign period until one hour after polling concludes. All guidelines and information related to media conduct during elections have been made available on the PCMC’s official website.
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