Flooded with Campaigns...

General Elections 2009 will have more sound and colour than the previous elections with the private FM radio stations and television channels, which have mushroomed all over the country, adding to the din of the battle. Voters are flooded with campaigns on the Sun TV Network, on the DMK owned Kalaignar TV Network, the AIADMK mouthpiece Jaya TV Network, the Congress backed Vasanth TV and the PMK owned Makkal TV. Sun TV group has a number of FM radio stations across the state and this will help the DMK to reach out more.

Though Election Commission of India (ECI) has set stringent guidelines and regulations for campaigning through the electronic media for the coming polls, ingenious campaign managers can sidestep them and get through loopholes.

The campaign through Doordarshan and Akashvani will have to be vetted by the screening committee appointed by the ECI. The radio and television manuals, which govern the programmes on Doordarshan and AIR, are strict on the kind of language that can be used by party leaders. "Radio jockeys in private FM stations can plead with the voters during the live chat shows. The television anchors can promote the candidates preferred by their bosses. This is another kind of surreptitious advertisement," K Kunhikrishnan, former director general, Doordarshan says.

Veteran broadcasters point out that private television and radio stations will be able to launch a blitzkrieg through special programmes. Though rules prevented private radio stations from broadcasting news, many of them had started airing news bulletins, Kunhikrishnan pointed out. "FM radio stations are not meant for influencing public opinion, they are for entertainment purpose only. Moreover, the rules are very clear that election campaigns should not be done through radio network," Kunhikrishnan added.

As per a study by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), conducting elections is always an expensive proposition and when it comes to the world's largest democracy, the bill could go up to as much as Rs 10,000 crore. While the 2004 Lok Sabha elections had cost the country Rs 4,500 crore, the poll bill came to around Rs 3,200 crore in 1998 and Rs 2,100 crore in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections.

The two major national parties, Congress and BJP, alone have a media advertising budget of Rs 200 crore each. The other parties are also planning to spend a total of Rs 500 crore on their ad campaigns. The ad industry is expecting at least Rs 1,000 crore to be spent overall by political parties across mediums ranging from print to digital. National parties like Congress and BJP already have their creative agencies in place for the campaigns. While the Congress has two roped in JWT and Crayons, the BJP recently hired Frank Simoes-Tag and Utopia.

Courtesy - Television Point