Political parties today favoured amendment of electoral laws to treat “paid news” as a poll malpractice, saying they were victims of such a syndrome.
“Paid news should be declared an electoral malpractice,” CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said at a seminar here on the paid news syndrome organised by the Editors’ Guild of India and the Indian Women’s Press Corps.
He felt a major hurdle in stopping this syndrome was that there was no record of the money exchanged in the deal and said those who paid money should also be held accountable.
Supporting him, senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said, since the Election Commission was not adequately empowered to deal with the issue, a Bill should be introduced in Parliament to amend the Act. The Model Code of Conduct does not cover the issue of malpractice.
“It should be done. I endorse the suggestion,” she said.
Recalling her experience while campaigning in Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, Swaraj said she was offered a “package of Rs one crore by a media organisation” to write news in her favour, including photographs of her visit to different places in her constituency.
