The Model Code of Conduct

The Model Code of Conduct lists the dos and don'ts for leaders, political parties and candidates during an election. Think of the rules page at the front of your school diary.

Its most interesting rules are the ones aimed at the party already in government.

Those rules make sure that government resources are not used for the election. For example, no new schemes or projects may be announced that might influence voters.

Why is that needed? A ruling party has the whole machinery of the state at hand: money, officials, government cars, official announcements. Without the code, it would not be competing with the others on equal terms.

Two other rules: all candidates must show care and restraint so elections stay peaceful, and giving gifts in return for votes is punishable.

The complaints the ECI deals with show what this looks like in real life:

• a candidate handing out sarees and household appliances to women voters;
• abusive language against a rival candidate;
• government officials campaigning for the ruling party;
• bundles of ₹500 notes found in a candidate's car during a check.

The code has an unusual history. It was first adopted in Kerala in 1960, voluntarily agreed by the major political parties of the time. The ECI circulated it during the 1962 general elections, and from 1991 began actively making sure it was followed.

That last date points to T.N. Seshan, who became Chief Election Commissioner in 1990. His reforms made campaigning follow exact rules, brought in voter IDs to stop proxy voting (people voting in someone else's name), and kept a strict watch on candidates' spending. He is remembered as the officer who made Indian elections fairer, more transparent and fearless.