Political parties in India will get digital time vouchers through an online platform, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Tuesday as the poll body amended the existing scheme for the use of government-owned electronic media by these parties during polls. This push for digital vouchers came days after the poll body launched a new website where the parties will be able to file financial accounts online, including contributions, audited annual accounts, and election expenditure statements.
“Allotment of time to political parties on All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD) during election will now be online,” the ECI said in a statement.
This has been done by introducing a provision to issue digital time vouchers through an Information Technology (IT) platform.
The ECI said that with this facilitation, the political parties will not be required to send their representatives to ECI/CEO Offices for the collection of the time vouchers physically during elections.
“This step reflects the Commission’s commitment to leveraging technology for the betterment of the electoral process and ease of all stakeholders,” the statement added.
To ensure equitable access to government-owned electronic media during elections for campaigning, an equitable base time is allotted to each national and recognised state party of the state concerned uniformly on DD and AIR and the additional time to be allotted to the parties is decided on the basis of their performance in the last assembly election from the respective state/UT or in the last general election to Lok Sabha, as the case may be.
The actual date and time during which the above telecasts/broadcasts will be made by the authorised representatives of any party as predetermined through a lot by the Prasar Bharati Corporation in consultation with the ECI and in the presence of political party representatives.
The introduction of an IT-based platform for the processing and distribution of time vouchers to entitled political parties allows for a more efficient and streamlined process, enhancing accessibility, and ease of use, the ECI added.
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