EC Introduces Digital Time Voucher System for Political Parties

• 21 Jul 2023

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has implemented a new digital time voucher system to facilitate political parties' access to government-owned electronic media like Doordarshan and All India Radio during election periods.

Key Points:

• Mandated Allotment of Airtime: During elections, the ECI mandates that Doordarshan and All India Radio must allocate a certain amount of free airtime to recognized political parties for broadcasting their campaign messages.
• Time Slot Allocation: The ECI determines the time slots for political parties based on various factors, including their previous electoral performance and representation in the legislative bodies. Each party is allocated fixed time slots for their broadcasts.
• Streamlining Media Access: The digital time voucher system serves as a permission mechanism, offering political parties specific time slots to broadcast or telecast their campaign messages on these media platforms. It streamlines the process and eliminates the need for physical collection of time slots.
• Enhancing Accessibility and Convenience: With the introduction of the digital time voucher system, political parties participating in election campaigns can now easily access and manage their allocated time slots, enhancing convenience and efficiency.
• Ensuring Fairness and Equitable Access: The digital time voucher system aims to ensure fairness and equitable access to government-owned media for all participating political parties, promoting democratic principles during election campaigns.