Manual on Model Code of Conduct (For the guidance of political parties and candidates) & other related guidelines

Gradually, since 1968, the Model Code of Conduct has come into being as an ethical code for candidates and political parties for the conduction of free and fair elections in India. This manual was released in March 2019 before the 17th general election. It provides a historical background on the development of the Code and detailed explanations on the scope and enforcement of all its eight sections.This manual credits the state of Kerala for initiating the idea by its introduction of a code of conduct during elections to the state legislative assembly in February 1960. The idea was carried ahead in several states during the 1968 and 1969 mid-term general elections through a document titled Roles and Responsibilities of Political Parties during Elections: An Appear to Political Parties for the Observance of a Minimum Code of Conduct during Election Propaganda and Campaign.The Election Commission released a revised Model Code of Conduct on January 1, 1974, which was circulated during the 1977 general elections. In September 1979, the Commission organized a convention of political parties to bring about a code that would also outline the role and behaviour of parties in power. Discussions from this convention informed the revised Model Code released before the 1979 elections to the Lok Sabha. This revised version had seven sections, one of which exclusively discussed the role of ruling parties in the States and at the Centre.In accordance with the Supreme Court judgment on S. Subramanian Balaji v...