Kamal Ghorui
CHENNAI: With campaigning prohibited during the silence period before polls, all parties went quiet on Wednesday. However, in the absence of an effective curbing mechanism by EC, canvassing on social media continued. Digital campaigns with candidates’ visuals kept popping up on netizens’ Instagram, WhatsApp and X feeds, seeking votes.Under Sections 126, 126A and 135C of Representation of People Act, 1951, all poll-related activities intended or likely to influence or affect the results of an election — such as holding public meetings, giving speeches, etc. — are banned during the silence period. Violations may lead to imprisonment up to six months, a fine, or both.If candidates or parties are found canvassing from their official handles, the candidate will receive a warning first. If the offence is serious, they will be barred from campaigning. This, however, failed to deter parties from using their IT cell or fan accounts to trend videos with Tamil songs and hashtags. In some cases, a few creators made independent reels, using candidates’ voices to seek votes.V Sridhar, additional chief electoral officer, ECI TN, said the agency was monitoring all official handles of candidates and parties. “It’s a task to monitor private and individual handles. In such cases, we take action if we get complaints. We have already written to the social media platform to take down content. We will release these details after polling, as officials are busy conducting polls,” he said.EC has an IT team that monitors the videos, but the mechanism of reporting them to the nodal officer of the web platform and taking them down takes at least one day, officials said, reducing impact of curbing content.
