How the Model Code of Conduct Is Enforced
The Model Code of Conduct (आदर्श चुनाव आचार संहिता) is not an Act of Parliament. The Election Commission says so in its own manual. A breach is not, by itself, a jail term. Yet ministers postpone schemes, advertisements come down, and campaigners are ordered off the road for a day or two.
That gap — real consequences, no offence called “breach of the Model Code” — is the enforcement story. This article explains where the power comes from, which breaches are already crimes, what the Commission can do during a campaign, and why it has refused to turn the whole code into criminal law.
The timetable is in What Is the Model Code of Conduct in India?. The eight parts are in The Eight Parts of India’s Model Code of Conduct.
Why “not a law” does not mean “optional”#
The March 2019 manual is direct: the code is not a statutory document, and violation of many provisions does not attract punishment under the code itself.
In the 1980s the Commission asked for parts of the code, especially Part VII, to be written into the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The Goswami Committee looked at the idea. Bills that would have made some breaches punishable with up to two years in prison were not passed, and they would have started the code at notification rather than announcement.
The Commission later took the opposite view. A violation needs a remedy in days. A trial often ends after the result. The Commission has said the code would lose its force if every clause became an offence or a corrupt practice.
The code binds in three ways.
Consent and publicity. Parties agreed to the norms. A public censure during a campaign has a political cost even when no court sits.
Article 324. The Constitution gives the Commission superintendence, direction, and control of elections. Where the statute is silent, the Commission issues directions so the poll stays free and fair. In S. Subramaniam Balaji (2013) the Supreme Court described Article 324 as the source of those Model Code instructions.
Election law and criminal law. Where the same act is already a corrupt practice or an offence, the code is the warning and the statute is the charge.
Breaches that are already offences#
The 2019 manual lists code malpractices that are already offences. Criminal-law section numbers in that manual predate the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and should be checked before a complaint. The Act sections below are the ones the Commission maps:
| Conduct | Where the manual locates it |
|---|---|
| Stirring hatred between castes, communities, or religious or linguistic groups | Corrupt practice, Section 123(3A) |
| Appeal to caste or religion; using a place of worship for propaganda | Section 123(3); offence under Section 125 |
| Bribery of voters | Corrupt practice, Section 123(1); also a criminal offence |
| Intimidation of voters | Electoral offence, Section 135A |
| Canvassing within 100 metres of a polling station | Electoral offence, Section 130 |
| Public meetings in the 48 hours before the close of poll | Electoral offence, Section 126(1) |
| Transporting voters to and from the polling station | Section 123(5); offence under Section 133 |
| Breaking up meetings or processions, or removing posters | Electoral offence, Section 127 |
| Serving liquor on polling day and in the 48 hours before it | Electoral offence, Section 135(c) |
A person can seek a remedy on these facts under those laws. The manual’s point is that rewriting them into the code would not add a power. What the statute does not cover is the heart of Part VII: a fresh subsidy, a public advertisement of “our achievements,” an official car in a convoy. Those are code violations. They are not, in the ordinary case, a Section 123 corrupt practice.
A corrupt practice is a ground for an election petition after the result. An electoral offence is a prosecution. Neither is a same-day remedy. That is why the Commission keeps a non-criminal track.
What the Commission does during the campaign#
Once the press note is out, the Commission writes to the Cabinet Secretary and the Chief Secretaries. Code directions come from the Commission. A cabinet item, a tax change, or a relief package that needs clearance goes through the Cabinet Secretariat, or through the state’s Screening Committee and Chief Electoral Officer. The Commission has asked for at least 48 hours to process a reference.
Enforcement then looks like administration.
- Notice and reply. A party, candidate, or minister explains a speech, an advertisement, a scheme, or a convoy.
- Censure or warning. The finding is published. In a close campaign, that publicity is the sanction.
- A short campaign ban. After a serious breach the Commission has ordered leaders off the campaign trail for 24 or 48 hours, and sometimes longer. The person is not removed from the ballot. They stop campaigning while the order lasts.
- Directions to the administration. Cover a symbol painted on public vehicles, pull an advertisement, hold back a grant, or transfer an officer who cannot be seen as neutral.
- Cancellation, rarely. In June 1993 the Commission cancelled the Kalka Assembly bye-election in Haryana for code violations. After a High Court stay, the Supreme Court stayed that order. The manual cites the case to show courts have protected Article 324 action. Cancellation is not a routine remedy.
The Commission does not ordinarily open code cases for conduct before the announcement. In the dispute over statues and public funds, it said it could not take cognisance of alleged misuse in the non-election period under the code. In Common Cause v. Bahujan Samaj Party, the Delhi High Court did not treat that as a power to freeze a symbol. It did say parties in power should not use public funds to promote their symbol or leaders outside elections, and it asked the Commission to frame guidelines.
At a Tamil Nadu Assembly bye-election in 2015, the Commission ordered that leaf paintings resembling the ruling party’s symbol on minibuses be covered. The Madras High Court held that the order lay within Article 324.
cVIGIL#
The Commission cannot post an observer on every wall. cVIGIL (Vigilant Citizen) lets a person report a violation from a phone.
The citizen files a time-stamped, geo-tagged photo or video. The district control room assigns a field unit within minutes. The unit checks the spot and reports, and the returning officer decides the action. The Commission has described that loop as about 100 minutes.
The app records a complaint. It does not pass sentence. A thin report can be dropped. A real breach still leads to removal, a notice, or a report up the chain. Complaints can also go to the district machinery, the Chief Electoral Officer, Part VI observers, or the police where the facts are an offence.
Should the code become law?#
A Parliamentary Standing Committee, in a report of 23 August 2013, recommended statutory backing for some provisions. The Law Commission’s Report No. 255 (March 2015) ranged across electoral reforms, and the question of “legal teeth” has not gone away.
The Commission’s view is that a code in the Act would turn every notice into a writ petition on an election clock. Article 324 fills gaps. It does not licence a departure from the Constitution or the 1951 Act, and directions can still be challenged. The Commission would rather use a short campaign ban than wait for a trial that ends too late. Part VII is only as strong as a fast and even-handed order.
What enforcement cannot do#
A campaign ban does not disqualify a candidate. Disqualification follows conviction, a corrupt practice proved in an election petition, or another ground in the Constitution and the 1951 Act.
The code also does not freeze government, police the years between elections, or replace spending rules. The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy and statutory payments continue. Civil servants may open completed projects. Misuse of office outside an election may break other laws; on the Commission’s approach it is not a Model Code case. A lawful advertisement can still be an illegal overspend. An unfunded manifesto promise is a political fact unless it clashes with the Constitution, the rest of the code, or the silence period.
How to read a “violation” headline#
Check four things. Is the schedule announced (or is this an early manifesto, or Part VII after a dissolution)? Which part — hate speech, a new scheme, or a rally in the last 48 hours? Was the order a notice, a finding, or a ban? And who acts next: the Commission for the code, the police for an offence, or an election petition after the result?
The code’s sanction is often administrative and immediate. The Act’s sanction is legal and slower. They are meant to be used together.
A practical next step#
Keep the Commission’s current letters, not only the text of the eight parts. Instructions on social media, defacement, and advertisements change from election to election. Save the official PDF, compress it if you need to mail it, or merge it with a Part VII checklist for your department.
FAQ#
Can someone be jailed for violating the Model Code?#
Not for a code violation as such. If the same act is bribery, intimidation, a communal appeal, canvassing near a booth, or a meeting in the silence period, the 1951 Act and criminal law already provide offences. Part VII breaches are handled by Commission directions.
What is cVIGIL?#
The Commission’s mobile tool for reporting violations with a time-stamped, geo-tagged photo or video. The report goes to the district control room and a field unit on a short timeline, often described as about 100 minutes. The app records a complaint. It does not pass sentence.
Why has the code not been made law?#
Bills and committees have proposed it. The Commission’s present view is that a statutory code would push every breach into court and arrive too late to repair that election. It relies on Article 324, on offences that already exist, and on fast administrative orders.
Does a campaign ban remove a candidate?#
No. It stops campaigning for the period stated, commonly 24 or 48 hours. The candidate remains in the contest unless a separate ground for disqualification applies.