ACTION PUNJAB NEWS Desk: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued further advisory to all political parties to maintain decorum and utmost restraint in public campaigning and raise the level of election campaigning to “issue”-based debate. The advisory comes after the poll body took note of various trends and cases of plummeting levels of political campaign discourse in recently held elections.
The poll body has also placed ‘Star Campaigners’ and candidates on ‘notice’ in the event of violations that followed previously recognised tactics during elections to avoid violating the Model Code of Conduct.
The Election Commission will evaluate any indirect MCC violations as per the advisory as a fair basis for revising the notices to be issued in terms of time and content in the upcoming elections.
For the general election to the Lok Sabha and four state Legislative assemblies, all phases and geographical areas of the elections will be used to determine “repeat” offences.
It should be noted that Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar recently emphasised the importance of political parties fostering ethical and respectful political discourse that inspires rather than divides and promotes ideas over personal attacks.
The Commission’s proactive advisory now formally establishes the framework for ethical political discourse and reduces clutter in the 2024 General Elections. The Commission’s methodical approach to MCC violations prepares the ground for civilised campaigning in the 2024 General Elections.
While acknowledging the importance of maintaining a balance between freedom of expression and a level playing field, the advisory stated that the Commission has taken a self-restrained approach in previous rounds of elections, assuming that its notice would serve as a moral censure to the candidate or star campaigner.
The Election Commission’s orders are carefully crafted to cause minimal disruption to campaigning activities, rather than outright prohibitions. However, the goal of monitoring the level of discourse by judiciously using MCC notices, similar to a moral censure, may not be misinterpreted and repeated in the next election cycle.
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