Section 126 of the Act embodies “election silence”, which prohibits any form of election campaign in the last 48 hours leading up to voting.The Election Commission (EC) has reached out to all national and regional political parties and sought their views on a proposal to ensure that manifestos are released at least 72 hours before voting ends in the first phase of elections.
As first reported by The Indian Express on January 10, a 14-member committee set up by the EC had recommended an amendment under Part VIII (Guidelines on Election Manifestos) of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) “to fix a timeline, by way of an outer time limit, for the release of manifesto by political parties in an election, to maintain the sanctity of Section 126” of the Representation of the People Act.
Section 126 of the Act embodies “election silence”, which prohibits any form of election campaign in the last 48 hours leading up to voting.
The EC is learnt to have accepted the committee’s recommendation and decided to seek views of all national and regional parties before amending the MCC. In its letter, written on January 22, the Commission had given the political parties time until January 31 to respond.
Sources said no feedback had been received by the deadline.
The proposed amendment – a new item to be inserted under Part VIII of MCC – reads, “If a party or candidate intends to release election manifesto in connection with any election, the same should be released latest by 72 hours prior to the hour fixed for conclusion of poll for the election. In case of multi-phase election, the release should be latest by 72 hours prior to the hour fixed for conclusion of poll for the first phase. Manifesto should not be released after this cut-off time.”
Why amendment may come before LS polls
At present there is no stipulation on the timing of manifesto launch for political parties.
In 2014, the BJP had released its Lok Sabha manifesto on the day of voting in the first phase. Although the Congress had complained to the EC, stating this would influence voters, the Commission was unable to act since the MCC is silent on the timing of manifesto release.
The 14-member committee was set up by the EC last year to revisit the MCC, Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act and other related provisions in the wake of rapid expansion in the media, The Indian Express has learnt.
