Supreme Court gives Full Power to the Election Commission to Fight Paid News

Guwahati: A Delhi High Court order that questioned EC’s remit over the content of speech and hence paid news has been ordered to be continued by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. This new judgment by the SC comes as a respite for the election commission.

A Supreme Court bench, in a hearing held stayed Para 77 of the High Court order according to which the Election Commission is restricted from acting on any instance of paid news.

The new stay on the High Court is going to play a crucial role in the upcoming state elections as this will allow the poll panel to crack down on all instances of paid news in the five states.

Before this, it was in May when the EC had filed a special leave petition before the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court order. The High court had passed the order in the Narottam Mishra paid news case. The court had said that if politicians publish in May, arguing that “motivated propaganda” in newspapers then it cannot be considered as their fundamental right to free speech.

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