About

• Recognised political parties have been allowed to freely use state-owned television and radio during polls since the 1998 Lok Sabha elections. 
• The Election Commission of India decides how much time each recognised national and state party will be allotted prior to the start of the election campaign.

National Parties

• All the National parties put together  get a minimum of 10 hours of telecasting time on Doordarshan’s national channel, and at least 15 hours on its regional channels. 
• They also get 10 hours of broadcasting time on the national hook-up of AIR and 15 hours of broadcasting on regional AIR stations. 

State Parties

• State parties, all put together, get a minimum of 30 hours of telecasting time on the appropriate regional Doordarshan channel and AIR radio station.

Guidelines on speeches’ contents

• Parties and their speakers are expected to submit transcripts of their speeches three to four days before recording. These have to be approved by the concerned authorities in the respective AIR and Doordarshan stations.
• The ECI’s guidelines forbid 
  • Criticism of other countries
  • attack on religions or communities;
  • anything obscene or defamatory
  • incitement of violence
  • anything amounting to contempt of court
  • aspersions against the integrity of the President and judiciary
  • anything affecting the unity, sovereignty and integrity of the nation 
  • any criticism by name of any person.

What’s in the news?

• Two political leaders were asked to make certain changes to their speeches made on Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) during the allocated broadcast time in the run up to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Source

• https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-politics/explained-rules-for-political-parties-to-use-state-funded-media-during-polls-9336115/