EC issues urgent directives over poll campaigning on Facebook-YouTube

Election Commission (EC) has directed political parties and candidates to strictly follow the code of conduct while conducting election campaigns on social platforms ahead of the upcoming 13th National Parliament elections and referendum to be held on February 12.

EC Secretariat Director (Public Relations) and Information Officer Md. Ruhul Amin Mallik said that an instructional letter in this regard has been sent to all returning officers.

The letter states that as per Rule 16 of the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates, 2025, a candidate, his election agent or anyone else on behalf of the candidate can campaign using social media. However, before starting the campaign, the name of the relevant social media, account ID, e-mail ID and necessary identification information must be submitted to the returning officer.

In addition, Rule 22(2), 2025 states that the expenses incurred on all types of campaigning, including creation of election-related content, advertising, boosting and sponsorship on social media, shall be considered as part of the overall election expenses of the candidate concerned. The accounts of these expenses shall be submitted to the Election Commission.

The instructions further state that the expenses incurred on campaigning on social media must be included in the election expenses and submitted to the Returning Officer.

In this situation, the Election Commission has directed the Returning Officers to ensure proper compliance with all the instructions mentioned in the Code of Conduct. At the same time, it has also been requested to send information regarding which social media platforms are being used by which political parties or candidates to the Public Relations Section of the Election Commission Secretariat.