Ahead of assembly elections in key states, the Congress party accuses Prime Minister Modi's government of manipulating the Model Code of Conduct to unfairly influence the electoral process through defamation and misinformation.
Key Points
- Congress accuses the Modi government of distorting the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for political gain.
- The party claims the MCC has become 'Modi's Code of Campaigning', alleging defamation and spreading misinformation.
- Assembly elections are scheduled in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and Puducherry.
- The Election Commission is set to announce the poll schedule, with the terms of the legislative assemblies ending in May and June.
The Congress party has criticised the Modi government, alleging misuse of power and distortion of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) ahead of the assembly elections.
The opposition party claimed that the poll schedule announcement "would have been given the go-ahead by the G2, since G1 would have completed this round of inaugurations, ribbon-cuttings, flag-offs, and launches".
The Congress frequently uses the term 'G2' to take swipes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, who are both from Gujarat.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the 2026 assembly elections at 4 PM today. It would have been given the go-ahead by the G2, since G1 would have completed this round of inaugurations, ribbon-cuttings, flag-offs, and launches."
Allegations of Campaign Misconduct
"The Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will soon come into effect. But since 2014 this has come to stand for Modi's Code of Campaigning which will be full of defamation, abuses, intimidation, fear-mongering, and spreading the virus of lies," Ramesh said.
The MCC is a set of conventions agreed upon by all stakeholders during the elections. Its objective is to keep campaigning, polling and counting orderly, clean and peaceful and check any abuse of state machinery and finances by the party in power.
Upcoming Assembly Elections
The Election Commission will announce dates for assembly polls in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry on Sunday evening.
The terms of these legislative assemblies are ending on different dates in May and June.
Final electoral rolls of the four states and the Union territory of Puducherry have been published as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list.
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