After objections were raised over Election Commission guidelines on social media, an NGO has questioned the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice for raising concerns against the same, saying that the poll panel was well within its powers to have introduced the new rules.
Backing the EC move to issue guidelines for content on social media ahead of elections, NGO Save Democracy Front has said the stipulations in question were the "need of the hour".
"EC is the custodian of democracy and has to ensure... the various provisions of (law) are enforced during the election process and that the law of the land is honoured by political parties and candidates," said the NGO headed by KN Govindacharya.
Counsel for the NGO, Virag Jain, said that despite EC's best efforts, various rules were flouted due to the "vested interests of political parties, (as) reflected in large-scale unlawful distribution of liquor, blatant use of black money and use of caste and religion for political gains".
The NGO had earlier met EC officials and suggested it put curbs on the use of social media. It had urged that the content on social media should be brought under the purview of the Model Code of Conduct.
The NGO said that the Model Code is not imposed on candidates/political parties operating through social/digital media despite latest reports that around 37 per cent of urban voters have access to the internet.
The NGO also urged Shantaram Naik, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, to expedite various proposals for electoral reforms through his intervention.
Naik had questioned the way EC had issued guidelines on the use of social media in polls, saying they were introduced without consultation, and claimed that such "elaborate" instructions do not fall within the jurisdiction of the panel.
Congress MP Naik, who heads the Standing Committee on Law and Personnel, had said that while government always makes rules in consultation with EC, the panel, "does not deem it fit to consult government or political parties before issuing instructions which were in the nature of substantive laws.
