TN chief electoral officer: Poll panel needs to keep pace with cyber space

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to ascertain the magnitude of cyber spend that political parties are making, Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer (CEO) Satyabrata Sahoo has said.

He told The Federal in an exclusive interview that the commission was in constant talks with all social media companies including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp to ensure that their support is forthcoming as and when needed.

“The cyber space and social media platforms are rapidly changing and the commission needs to cover a lot of ground,” he said.

The CEO said the commission had tackled the issue of muscle power in the elections and the money power would be curbed in due course. Striking an optimistic tone, he said it involved a multi-pronged approach – dealing with the money flow and making the public aware of the vice of taking money.

“Even the highly developed European nations are swayed by certain campaigns on mass and social media. So, in our socio-economic context, there is no wonder that people think there is nothing wrong in taking a few hundreds from politicians,” he said.

Sahoo said the commission had been very strict and there was a no-holds-barred appraoch to curbing cash circulation. “We can term it complete success only when the people start refusing money,” he said.

He said the poll affidavits going public was a good step as people could be the best judges. “The public can easily see how much a leader has made over the years,” he said. The criminal antecedents and other details too wouldbe listed and people can make an informed call, he added.

While hate speeches have been monitored and actions have been initiated against the parties, asking for the content to   be pulled down, he added that digital expenses are being tracked although it is a difficult task.