ECI to hold workshop for media officers to tackle misinformation

New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) will organise a one-day workshop on September 12 for media and social media nodal officers of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) offices across all 36 states and union territories.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will inaugurate the workshop in New Delhi, in the presence of Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, the Commission announced in a statement on Thursday.

The initiative is aimed at strengthening the communication framework of the Commission to ensure the timely dissemination of factual, rule-based, and constitutional information regarding elections. It comes amid heightened concerns over the spread of misinformation surrounding electoral processes.

“The Workshop aims to emphasise that elections in India are held as per the Constitution and underline the importance of communicating the legal, factual and rule-based information in a timely and in coordinated manner,” the ECI said.

In recent months, the poll body has repeatedly flagged attempts to spread misleading claims about voter registration, electoral rolls, and the integrity of voting systems.

The Commission has stressed that proactive and coordinated communication is essential to counter these challenges.

“In light of the recent surge in misinformation that seeks to mislead the public about electoral processes, the Workshop also aims to strengthen the communication ecosystem of the offices of the CEOs in States/UTs in countering misleading information with fact-based responses,” the poll body said.

The training will also build upon lessons from two earlier orientation programmes conducted this year at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) on April 9 and June 5.

Those sessions were designed to familiarise officers with media engagement strategies and fact-checking mechanisms.

The workshop reflects the poll body’s broader effort to enhance transparency, uphold the credibility of electoral institutions, and ensure that citizens receive accurate information amidst a rapidly evolving information ecosystem.

--IANS

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