NEW DELHI: Ahead of assembly polls in Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday issued an order to ensure a fair campaign environment. As per the order, no party, candidate, organisation or person shall publish any advertisement in print media on poll day and one day before the poll day, unless the contents are pre-certified by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee.
The ECI in the order said, “The ECI has announced the schedule for the General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Bihar, 2025, and the by-elections for eight Assembly constituencies. The dates of polling have been fixed for November 6 and November 11.”
“In order to ensure a fair campaign environment, no political party, candidate, organisation, or person shall publish any advertisement in print media on the poll day and the preceding day unless the contents are pre-certified by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) at the State or District level,” it said, adding that for Bihar, the restricted days are November 5 and 6 for Phase I and November 10 and 11 for Phase II.
“Applicants seeking pre-certification for political advertisements in print media must submit their applications to the MCMC no later than two days before the intended publication date. To facilitate timely clearance, as committees at both the State and the District levels have been activated to review and pre-certify advertisements and ensure decisions are made promptly,” the ECI said.
Meanwhile, it said, “As on October 21, 2025, 650 complaints have been lodged using the C-Vigil App in the Bihar elections and the bye-elections-bound States/UT. Of these, 649 have been disposed of and 612 complaints (94%) of the complaints were resolved within 100 minutes.”
According to the ECI, 824 flying squads have been deployed across Bihar to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes, as people at large and political parties are empowered to report MCC violations using the C-Vigil App on ECINET.
Giving details on the seizure data, the poll panel said, till date, over Rs 71.32 crores worth of cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals, and other freebies have been confiscated through a coordinated approach involving multi-enforcement agencies across different States/UTs.
