“Election Law and De-Regulation of Political Advertising Online: Legal Safeguards in India’s 2024 Elections”
Abstract
The digital transformation of political communication has radically altered the architecture of
electoral democracy in India. As political parties increasingly migrate their campaigns from
physical rallies and traditional media to social-media platforms, the boundaries between free
expression, political persuasion, and paid manipulation have blurred. The Indian general elections
of 2024 represent the most digitally mediated electoral contest in the nation’s history, with
unprecedented volumes of political advertising disseminated through Facebook, YouTube, X
(Twitter), Instagram, and regional language platforms such as ShareChat and Koo. This research
paper critically examines the evolving legal landscape governing online political advertising in
India, focusing on how deregulation, technological opacity, and algorithmic targeting challenge
the constitutional principles of electoral fairness, transparency, and equality.
The study begins by situating India’s regulatory framework within the global discourse on the
governance of digital campaigning. Traditional election-law regimes—anchored in the
Representation of the People Act (1951), the Model Code of Conduct, and the Press Council of
India’s norms—were conceived for print and broadcast media, not algorithmically driven
networks. Yet, by 2024, digital platforms had emerged as dominant intermediaries shaping voter
behaviour through micro-targeted advertisements and personalised political messaging. The
Election Commission of India (ECI) and allied agencies such as the Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology (MeitY) have attempted to retrofit existing laws to this new environment
through advisory circulars, voluntary codes of ethics, and platform self-regulation. However, the
absence of binding statutory oversight has created regulatory vacuums that parties and political
consultancies exploit for unchecked digital influence.
electoral democracy in India. As political parties increasingly migrate their campaigns from
physical rallies and traditional media to social-media platforms, the boundaries between free
expression, political persuasion, and paid manipulation have blurred. The Indian general elections
of 2024 represent the most digitally mediated electoral contest in the nation’s history, with
unprecedented volumes of political advertising disseminated through Facebook, YouTube, X
(Twitter), Instagram, and regional language platforms such as ShareChat and Koo. This research
paper critically examines the evolving legal landscape governing online political advertising in
India, focusing on how deregulation, technological opacity, and algorithmic targeting challenge
the constitutional principles of electoral fairness, transparency, and equality.
The study begins by situating India’s regulatory framework within the global discourse on the
governance of digital campaigning. Traditional election-law regimes—anchored in the
Representation of the People Act (1951), the Model Code of Conduct, and the Press Council of
India’s norms—were conceived for print and broadcast media, not algorithmically driven
networks. Yet, by 2024, digital platforms had emerged as dominant intermediaries shaping voter
behaviour through micro-targeted advertisements and personalised political messaging. The
Election Commission of India (ECI) and allied agencies such as the Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology (MeitY) have attempted to retrofit existing laws to this new environment
through advisory circulars, voluntary codes of ethics, and platform self-regulation. However, the
absence of binding statutory oversight has created regulatory vacuums that parties and political
consultancies exploit for unchecked digital influence.