Assembly elections 2022: EC orders action against political bigwigs for poll code violations; what you need to know

Tis election season. And with it poll code violations galore. The Election Commission has already taken to task heavyweights such as Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal, Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Badal and Congress’ Charanjit Channi for poll code violations. Here’s an understanding of what comprises a poll code violation and what each of these leaders did to warrant action against them: What’s a poll code violation? When a state goes to polls, the Election Commission imposes the Model Code of Conduct. This continues to remain in effect util the completion of the electoral process. For those who don’t know much about the Model Code of Conduct, it’s a set of strict rules that evolved over a period of the past six decades and has been laid down by the Election Commission of India. The Model Code of Conduct consists of a set of guidelines expected to be abided by the political parties, their campaigners and the candidates. The Election Commission brings the Model Code of Conduct into effect to ensure 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.” Some of the general guidelines under the MCC are as follows:

• No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic
• Criticism of other political parties, when made, shall be confined to their policies and programme, past record and work. Parties and candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects 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
• 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 the polling station

When a party or candidate violates these guidelines, they are considered a poll code violation. Though the EC does not have a judicial ability to penalise violators of the Model Code of Conduct, it generally issues show-cause notice to the violators and in some cases, bars them from the poll campaign. It can, however, instruct the police to register FIRs for poll code violation under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. [caption id=“attachment_10394891” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  A police case has been filed against Arvind Kejriwal and his party for a video, which the poll body says makes “false and frivolous allegations against other parties” and violates the Model Code of Conduct. Image Courtesy: Arvind Kejriwal/Facebook[/caption] Big names who have violated poll code The poll code violations began back in January and according to The Print, the first two cases of Model Code of Conduct violation were registered in Uttar Pradesh in January against former Congress MLA Nadeem Javed and Samajwadi Party leader Imran Masood. While Javed was accused of taking out an unauthorised cavalcade of five SUVs with party flags to address a gathering in Jaunpur, Masood allegedly organised an unauthorised public meeting at his residence. On 19 February (Saturday), the EC ordered action against Arvind Kejriwal, Sukhbir Badal and Charanjit Channi, reported PTI. A police case has been filed against Arvind Kejriwal and his his party for a video, which the poll body says makes “false and frivolous allegations against other parties” and violates the Model Code of Conduct. The complaint against the Delhi chief minister was made by Akali Dal’s vice-president Arshdeep Singh, who raised objections to the video. The party said the video “intended to malign the image of Shiromani Akali Dal and other political parties in the eyes of general public”. In a counter complaint by the AAP, Sukhbir Badal has been charged by the poll body for violating the Model Code of Conduct. The AAP complaint had alleged that Badal had circulated a video from his official Facebook page which “consist of his vote appeal with an intent to misguide voters” after the campaigning period had ended. Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi was also charged for violating the poll code. Channi had visited a temple in Manasa and then carried out a door-to-door campaign in the area on Friday evening, after the campaigning had come to an end. On Monday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was charged with a poll code violation. The action comes after Akhilesh interacted with the media on Sunday while casting his vote for the Jaswant Nagar seat from where the party has fielded Shivpal Yadav. Click here to know more about Assembly Elections 2022 With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.