SOCIAL MEDIA, DIGITAL CAMPAIGNING, AND THE FUTURE OF ELECTION LAW IN INDIA- TOWARDS DECLINE OR RENEWAL

Abstract

India’s electoral ecosystem has been reshaped by social media, targeted advertising, and algorithmic amplification faster than its laws and institutions could adapt. This paper examines the resulting mismatch between platformed political communication and India’s statutory architecture, principally the Representation of the People Act, the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct, and the intermediary-liability regime under the Information Technology Act and shows how these instruments, drafted for an analogue era, leave doctrinal and procedural lacunae when applied online. Building on Supreme Court jurisprudence from Shreya Singhal to Anuradha Bhasin, and a comparative review of US, UK, and EU regulatory responses, the paper interrogates four core risks: algorithmic amplification of content, opaque micro-targeting and hidden financing, cross-border interference, and weak enforcement of transparency and silence-period rules. The analysis finds promise in India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (2023) but highlights its broad state exemptions, centralised enforcement, and lack of explicit electoral safeguards. The paper advocates a calibrated, rights-respecting reform package: narrow DPDP carveouts; decentralised, independent enforcement capacity; mandatory digital imprints and ad-disclosure; platform risk assessments and algorithmic audits; and coordinated ECI–data-regulator mechanisms. Such measures, it argues, can protect voter autonomy and electoral integrity without unduly constraining legitimate political speech, thereby preserving democratic legitimacy in an age of commercial platforms and algorithmic mediation.