Errant publishers, journalists as well as election candidates should be sentenced for two years in prison, if the menace of paid news is to be contained, former chief election commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi said Thursday.
Quraishi, whose term as CEC ended after the state assembly elections in five states earlier this year, was here to address a meeting on good governance at the International Centre.
“There should be a two year imprisonment for the publisher, writer as well as the guilty candidate if the offence of paid news is proved. All political parties had complained to me about this. We have tried to check it substantially, but they (media houses) are using improvised methods now,” he said.
Quraishi has in the past maintained that “paid news” during electioneering amounted to misleading of the voters and was a major electoral malpractice.
–Indo-Asian News Service