Elections to the 224 assembly seats in Karnataka will be held on May 10, announced the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday. With this, the model code of conduct (MCC) has officially come into force in the state.
The MCC is a set of guidelines issued by the EC for the conduct of political parties and candidates to ensure a fair electoral process. These rules have evolved with the consensus of political parties who consent to abide by the principles of it.
The codes entail that political parties and candidates should only criticise other parties based on their policies and programme, past record and work. "Parties and Candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided," it says.
Further, it also tells the parties to not appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. "Mosques, Churches, Temples or other places of worship shall not be used as forum for election propaganda," it says.
Salient points of MCC:
- All parties and candidates shall avoid scrupulously all activities which are "corrupt practices" and offences under the election law, such as bribing of voters, intimidation of voters, impersonation of voters, canvassing within 100 meters of polling stations, holding public meetings during 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 polling station.
- No political party or candidate shall permit its or his followers to make use of any individual's land, building, compound wall etc., without his permission for erecting flag-staffs, suspending banners, pasting notices, writing slogans etc.
- Political parties and candidates shall ensure that their supporters do not create obstructions in or break up meetings and processions organized by other parties. Workers or sympathisers of one political party shall not create disturbances at public meetings organized by another political party by putting questions orally or in writing or by distributing leaflets of their own party. Processions shall not be taken out by one party along places at which meetings are held by another party. Posters issued by one party shall not be removed by workers of another party.
- If two or more political parties or candidates propose to take processions over the same route or parts thereof at about the same time, the organizers shall establish contact well in advance and decide upon the measures to be taken to see that the processions do not clash or cause hindrance to traffic. The assistance of the local police shall be availed of for arriving at a satisfactory arrangement. For this purpose the parties shall contact the police at the earliest opportunity.
MCC for ruling parties:
- Public places such as maidans etc., for holding election meetings, and use of helipads for air-flights in connection with elections shall not be monopolized by itself. Other parties and candidates shall be allowed the use of such places and facilities on the same terms and conditions on which they are used by the party in power.
- Issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer in the newspapers and other media and the misuse of official mass media during the election period for partisan coverage of political news and publicity regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided.
- Ministers and other authorities shall not sanction grants/payments out of discretionary funds from the time elections are announced by the Commission.
- Ministers of Central or State Government shall not enter any polling station or place of counting except in their capacity as a candidate or voter or authorized agent.
The terms of the current assembly will expire on May 24.
During the briefing to announce the poll dates, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar informed that 5,21,73,579 people are eligible to vote in the state, including 2.62 crore males and 2.59 crore females. There are over 9.17 lakh first-time voters to participate in the upcoming polls.
Polls this year are expected to be a close contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Congress. Both parties are in the process of announcing the candidates.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that Karnataka BJP will announce the list of candidates in the first week of April.
Meanwhile, state Congress president DK Shivakumar has stated that the second list of Congress party would be out after March 30. The party has already announced tickets for 124 candidates.
