- Prologue
- What is paid news?
- Why is Paid news bad?
- What has Election commission done?
- What has press council done?
- Suggest further reforms
- Challenges ahead
- Appendix: Expenditure and Deposit limits
Prologue
- Topic in news: 2014, October because Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) said we need to amend RPA, make paid news an election offense with minimum 2 years jail time and candidate’s disqualification.
- Relevance in UPSC civil service Exam?
- CSAT: Expenditure limits related MCQs
- GS2: Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
- GS4: Case studies involving ethics in journalism.
- Essay: Fodder for Media -pillar of democracy and topics of similar theme.
What is paid news?
- It is a news article, editorial or headline banner.
- Appearing in print/electronic media.
- For which the editor, journalist OR media-house has accepted cash or kind.
- Some examples of Paid news:
- Newspaper publishing a banner headline on FrontPage stating that a Mr. X is ready to create history in the __ election. But reporter has not presented any news item related to this headline.
- News item stating that one candidate is getting the support of each and every section of society and that he would win elections from the constituency.
Why is Paid news bad?
- Election Commission (EC) has setup limits on election Expenditure. But if rich candidates are secretly paying media houses for favorable reporting, then poor candidates don’t get a level playing field in election campaigning.
- Reduces voter turnout. Since Paid news creates an atmosphere that only Mr.X will win, then some of supporters of Mr.Y, won’t goto polling-booth, thinking their time and vote will be wasted anyways.
- Thus, Paid news prevents voters from selecting right candidate.
What has Election commission done to stop paid news?

Suggest the steps to curb Paid news during elections
- Under Representation of Peoples’ Act (RPA) – 48 hours before the polling, media cannot display any news that can influence the voters. (else jail 2 years)
- Media cannot run exit polls until the election polling phases are complete. if in doubt, they should seek permission of District election officer.
- EC has ordered the District Collectors to meet with Political Parties and media houses, to inform them about “consequences” of surrogate advertising and Paid News.
- EC has setup MCMC Committee at every district and state level. MCMC=Media Certification & Monitoring Committee.
- This Committee is made up of Returning officer, representatives from I&B ministries.
- They scrutinize all media coverage within their jurisdiction.
- If they suspect a paid news or surrogate news, they seek explanation from respective candidate.
- If reply unsatisfactory, then they include money spend on the paid news, in candidate’s election Expenditure.
- EC has also written to Press council of India to set clear guidelines and punishment.
What has press council done?
They’ve issued following guidelines
- Advertisement and news items should be set in different fonts.
- News should carry credit line / source. Ads should carry disclaimers.
- newspapers should not exaggerated reports about any candidate/party or incident during the elections
- Newspaper should not leave out any important point raised by a candidate.
- Should not promote feelings of hatred between people about religion, race, caste, community or language.
- Must not publish unverified allegations against any candidate/party.
- Must not accept any inducement/money/gift/hospitality/facilities from any candidate or party.
- Press shall not accept/publish any advertisement at the cost of public exchequer regarding achievements of a party/government in power.
News Broadcasters Association
They also issued similar guidelines like PCI. Additionally following points given:
- News broadcasters should maintain a clear distinction between editorial and expert opinion carried on their news channels.
- must not broadcast any hate speech
- All paid content should be clearly marked as “Paid Advertisement” or “Paid Content”
- Exit polls: should explain the methodology used, the sample size, the margin of error, the fieldwork dates, and data used. Broadcasters should also disclose how vote shares are converted to seat shares.
Suggest further reforms
CEC has proposed following:
- Right now, Paid news is not an electoral offense. In worst case scenario, candidate will be considered guilty for exceeding election Expenditure limits. In that case he just has to pay fine. No disqualification, No deterrence.
- Therefore, we need to amend Representation of People’s act 1951, to make “paid news” an electoral offense, with minimum 2 years jailtime and disqualification of candidate.
- Government ads before polls, should be considered “paid news”. (recall the Madhav menon said Government should not display ads before election except job-tender and public safety.)
- Enact a law for opinion polls conducted by TV channels.
- Additionally, we need to make clear guidelines on election Expenditure because:
- Candidate’s poll Expenditure is counted from the day he files nomination. Therefore, politicians spend crores on media-campaign before filing nomination. (some of them even delay nomination till last date).
- Poll Expenditure limits is for candidates and none for political parties. This rule is also misused.
Challenges ahead
- It is very difficult to prove paid news because money transfer done via Hawala and sometimes “in kind” e.g. land-allotment after election, free wine-n-dine, luxury phones, tours.
- Contractual employment in media houses- journalist don’t truly have ‘independence’. Editors and Media owners enjoy too much discretionary powers.
- Companies with political affiliations. They enter in “private treaties” with media house. Product advertisement contracts given, in exchange of biased reporting during elections.
- Companies with political affiliations themselves, own media-houses and news channels.
Therefore, nuisance of paid new can be fixed only by ‘self-regulation’ of political parties and media houses. RPA-amendment alone, will be insufficient.
Appendix
State | Lok Sabha | Vidhan Sabha |
---|---|---|
Large states: MP, UP, WB etc. | 70 lakh | 28 lakh |
North East & hill states | 53 lakh (incl.Goa & other small states) | 20 lakh |
Above limits are decided under representation of people’s act 1951=> conduct of election rules, 1961.
Category | Lok Sabha (Rs.) | Vidhan Sabha (Rs.) |
---|---|---|
Gen/OBC | 25,000 | 10,000 |
SC/ST=50% less than above. | 12,500 | 5,000 |
above limits are decided by Representation of People’s Act 1951=> section 34/1/b.
If the candidate fails to get a minimum of one-sixth of the total valid votes polled=> deposit taken away, sent to treasury.
Mock Question (GS2): Paid news is a tantamount to committing a fraud on the voters. Discuss the steps taken by Election commission of India to curb this malpractice and suggest reforms in Representation of People’s act, if any. 200 words.
Visit Mrunal.org/Polity for entire Archive of Polity, RPA and election related articles.
Sir little more background for RPA was needed i think,other than that Article is Complete and Crisp, Thanks,Very Nice Work.
Thnx s lot mrunal sir.u r providing amazing help&guidence to us.can u assist me further with exsm syll&pattern,prepn for acio14 exam.appreciable
Hats-off to you Sir, the kind of hard work you put in getting all the latest and to the point information is beyond compare.
If a candidate contested in two constituencies and won on both (like Modi), what will happen to the deposit he made in the constituency which he gave up later? Will it be returned or will it go the treasury?
Hi Mrunal Sir! I am writing mains this year. Honestly speaking , i have become addicted to your posts. Really you have changed the way preparation of CSE used to be! . A few humble requests (if possible only) .
1) Taking into consideration the vastness of mains syllabus, could you please increase the number the posts so as to cover more and more topics before mains.
2) Could you come up with some video lectures like you did during prelims, those were really very helpful !
Regards
For Video lectures, Mr. Roman Saini AIR 18 CSE 2013 is doing great job. Have a glance at youtube.com/unacademy. Just one thing that he is making videos on basic stuffs not any current issues. But they are really helpful
Mrunal Ji one article on Current hot topic ‘Black Money’ Purpose of SIT, supreme court guidelines, govt hesistant to reveal all names, agreement with countries regarding names exchange etc
hello sir,
For New india insurance what is the job profile & where the posting will be?
सर , मैं हिंदी मीडियम से तैयारी कर रहा हु आमतौर पर हिंदी में क्वालिटी स्टडी मटेरियल की कमी है किंतु आपकी शैली से बेहतर मदद मिली है जिससे हिंदी वाले भी सरलता से समझ सकते है
Hello Mrunal.
I want to request one thing.
Can you restructure the organization of all your articles according to syllabus subheadings too and provide links under corresponding paper.
In other words : create links for all the topics under Gs1 Gs2 GS3 and link them further with their relevant contents.
This way all the material will become syllabus heading oriented and all the information will be available at one place. We can be confident then that we have covered all the syllabus headings as per the syllabus in relevant and sufficient detail.
Ravi Prakash Sharma…exetly the same thing what i want and requisting to mrunal…as it simplify our preparation.
sir nr madhava committee report is not available on the site.plz check.
Thank you mrunal…One humble request to you…please through some light on topics as described in syllabus by UPSC .
there are lots to read but it is indeed important WHAT NOT TO READ…
Sir,I am from Bengal & preparing simultaneously for IAS & WBCS exam….following ur blog since a month …found it extremely helpful….thank u sir ..for or selfless service
Sir,
What is meant by “Hawala” or money laundering? How is it dangerous to a country’s economy?
Please clarify
Is this articles is imp/useful for civil services-2015 prep
mrunal bhayya ,plzzz post an article about investment model ( humble rquest bhayya ))
Some provisions can be amended by a ” special majority” of the Parliament, i.e., a two-third
majority of the members of each House present and voting, and a “majority” (that is, more than
50 per cent), of the total membership of each House.
what is the difference between special majority and majority ? may u kindly clarify me giving examples of no of seats of loksabha (545) ?
please………..
Thanks Mrunal Sir , Nice article
Sir,
Why not posting spl topics on Capf exam
Also not discussing topic after exam…
Please guide some new changed pattern of Upsc CAPF exam
Thanks
Sir, your work is great. You are a great teacher.
Hi Sir,
Thanks a lot for tons of Information.I really appreciate for your work.
Great work sir. I appreciate you for this article.
Dear sir,
i want to download all the lectures of UPSC paper GS 1-2-3-4 but i am unable to download/search the exact location for this.so please guide me.
Regard’s-Shadan tasneem