With the election dates being announced, almost all candidates of all political parties are busy planning their campaigning strategies.However, in an attempt to keep an eye on the money being spent by poll candidates in the Mumbai suburban district, the local election authority — the district collector’s office — will seek information about expenses from nine news channels and few radio stations on a daily basis.
Officials said the new measure will allow them to verify the campaign expenditure claimed by the candidates and keep a tab on paid news, if any.
It will also ensure that the candidates do not violate the model code of conduct.
The district collector’s office will ask the channels and the radio stations to inform them regarding the expenditure incurred by political parties and candidates on political advertisements and advetorials that they may broadcast for the upcoming Assembly elections.
“These are the news channels and local radio stations that we expect will be approached by candidates during their election campaigning. We cannot monitor all news channels and stations round the clock,” said a senior official, on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
“Hence, we are going to ask these agencies to submit any footage pertaining to the candidates to us on a daily basis, so that we can keep track of the amount being spent,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Hence, we are going to ask these agencies to submit any footage pertaining to the candidates to us on a daily basis, so that we can keep track of the amount being spent,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Four Lok Sabha and 26 Assembly constituencies fall in the limit of the Mumbai suburban district.