A normal ad can be live in an hour. A political ad cannot — and should not. The platforms and the Election Commission check who you are, what you say and how you pay, before a rupee is spent.
Skip the paperwork and the ad is rejected, the account is flagged, and the creative is pulled on the week you need it most.
1 · Authorisation before creative
Both platforms require an authorised advertiser: identity verified, organisation details filed, a disclaimer (“Paid for by…”) set before launch.
Apply with the candidate or party documents, not a personal account. Approval takes days and may ask for a re-check. File it before you design a single poster.
2 · MCMC pre-certification
Print, outdoor and digital political advertising needs Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) pre-certification. Each creative — poster, hoarding, video — is filed with its printer and publisher line.
File early and in batches. The certificate is your shield: a certified hoarding cannot be removed on complaint.
3 · Labelling and Ad Library transparency
Every political ad must carry the disclaimer and appear in the public Ad Library with spend and targeting. That transparency is the price of running political ads — accept it.
Keep the ad account in the candidate or party name, with invoices matching the filing. The returning officer will ask.
The authorisation checklist
- Voter authorisation complete on Meta and Google.
- Every creative MCMC pre-certified and labelled.
- Ad accounts in the candidate or party name.
- Certificates, ad IDs and bills filed per contest.
- No paid news, no bulk spam, no purchased lists.
Do that and political ads run like normal ads — measured, legal and defensible to the last vote.
Sources
The official pages this guide is based on:
