Elections for deciding on Members of Legislative Assembly will be held in 5 states involving March 27 and April 29. These states are beneath the Model Code of Conduct considering the fact that the poll dates had been announced very first on February 26 and will stay beneath it till the completion of the election procedure. For these who do not know a great deal about the Model Code of Conduct, it is a set of strict guidelines that evolved more than a period of the previous six decades and has been laid down by the Election Commission of India.
As per the ECI, the model code of conduct was very first observed in the course of the 1960 polls. “Historically, the credit of giving the idea of a model code of conduct for political parties should go to the State of Kerala, which adopted, for the first time, a code of conduct for observance for Political Parties during the general election to the State Legislative Assembly in February 1960,” says the ECI manual.
The Model Code of Conduct consists of a set of suggestions anticipated to be abiding by the political parties, their campaigners and the candidates. The Election Commission brings the Model Code of Conduct into impact to guarantee cost-free and fair elections.
According to the ECI, “The Model Code of Conduct remains in place during the elections in respect of political parties and candidates which remains in force from the date the elections are announced by the Commission till the completion of elections. It is clarified that the provisions of MCC and related instructions of the Commission issued from time to time shall also apply to the content being posted on the internet, including social media websites, by candidates and political parties.”
Notably, the ECI in 2019 had decided to hold social media posts by the political parties and leaders beneath its vigil for detecting any MCC violation.
The MCC can be classified broadly into 3 components. Here are some essential highlights of the suggestions:
Model Code of Conduct suggestions on General Conduct
* No party or candidate shall include things like in any activity which may possibly aggravate current variations or make mutual hatred or bring about tension involving various castes and communities, religious or linguistic.
* Criticism of other political parties, when created, shall be confined to their policies and programme, previous record and work. Parties and Candidates shall refrain from criticism of all elements of private life.
* Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided.
* There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, Churches, Temples or other areas of worship shall not be applied as a forum for election propaganda.
* All parties and candidates shall stay away from scrupulously all activities which are “corrupt practices” and offences beneath the election law, such as bribing of voters, intimidation of voters, impersonation of voters, canvassing inside one hundred meters of polling stations, holding public meetings in the course of the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the close of the poll, and the transport and conveyance of voters to and from the polling station.
* No political party or candidate shall permit its or his followers to make use of any individual’s land, creating, compound wall and so forth., devoid of his permission for erecting flag-staffs, suspending banners, pasting notices, writing slogans and so forth.
* Political parties and candidates shall guarantee that their supporters do not make obstructions in or break up meetings and processions organized by other parties.
Model Code of Conduct suggestions on Meetings
* The party or candidate shall inform the nearby police authorities of the venue and time of any proposed meeting effectively in time.
* A Party or candidate shall ascertain in advance if there is any restrictive or prohibitory order in force in the spot proposed for the meeting if such orders exist, they shall be followed strictly.
* If permission or license is to be obtained for the use of loudspeakers or any other facility in connection with any proposed meeting, the party or candidate shall apply to the authority concerned effectively in advance.
Model Code of Conduct suggestions on Processions
* A Party or candidate organizing a procession shall make a decision beforehand the time and spot of the beginning of the procession, the route to be followed and the time and spot at which the procession will terminate.
* The organizers shall give advance intimation to the nearby police authorities of the programme.
* The organizers shall ascertain if any restrictive orders are in force in the localities by way of which the procession has to pass, and shall comply with the restrictions unless exempted specially by the competent authority.
* If two or more political parties or candidates propose to take processions more than the exact same route or components thereof at about the exact same time, the organizers shall establish speak to effectively in advance and make a decision upon the measures to be taken to see that the processions do not clash or bring about hindrance to targeted traffic.
* The political parties or candidates shall physical exercise manage to the maximum extent probable in the matter of processionists carrying articles which may possibly be place to misuse by undesirable components in particular in moments of excitement.
* The carrying of effigies purporting to represent members of other political parties or their leaders, burning such effigies in public and such other types of demonstration shall not be countenanced by any political party or candidate.
Though the ECI does not have a judicial capacity to penalise the violators of the Model Code of Conduct, it frequently concerns show-bring about notice to the violators and in some instances, bars them from the poll campaign.