Marking a departure from norm, no EC notice for Model Code violation during Haryana, J&K assembly polls

For the Haryana and J&K polls, there were no such notices on the website. The EC did not issue any MCC violation notices or take any punitive action in the elections, senior EC sources confirmed.

This, EC sources say, is because there were very few complaints from political parties and none of them rose to the level of issuing notice.
The poll panel had taken proactive steps to prevent grounds for complaint from parties, a top EC source said.

For instance, in Jammu and Kashmir, the EC stopped the process of appointment of Colonel Vikrant Prasher of the Indian Army as the Senior Superintendent of Police (Training) in the J&K Police. The J&K government had issued the order on September 27, ahead of the third and final phase of the elections scheduled for October 1. The EC wrote to the Chief Secretary on September 30 halting the appointment, saying that since the MCC was in place there was a ban on transfer of officers connected to election.

In Haryana, where polls were held on October 5, there were some complaints from parties, sources said. However, the EC did not issue notices. Congress general-secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh had written to the EC against the Haryana Public Service Commission’s recruitment in public services. Replying to him on August 21, the EC said though the recruitment process for constables, teachers and other posts had started before the elections and hence did not violate the MCC, it asked the government not to declare the results of the recruitment until after the polls to “maintain the level playing field”.

According to the EC’s standing instructions regarding the MCC, the regular recruitment and appointment or promotions through the Union Public Service Commission and State Public Service Commissions or any statutory authority can continue during elections.

In another case, acting on a complaint from Haryana Congress, the EC ordered that the meeting of the selection committee for members of the State Human Rights Commission be deferred till the completion of the polls.

Biplab Kumar Deb, the BJP co-in-charge for the Haryana elections, said the campaign had been peaceful. “There used to be incidents of violence in Haryana elections. This time it was a rather peaceful election. We consider it as an achievement of the 10-year regime of the BJP. There have been complaints of MCC violations but the number was less in comparison with the past elections,” he said.

The Congress, on the other hand, painted a different picture. Congress secretary in charge for Haryana Manoj Chauhan told The Indian Express that the party submitted at least 14 complaints to local election officials over MCC violations during the Haryana elections. “We submitted at least 14 complaints and four FIRs were also lodged in the state over MCC violations,” said Chauhan.

The MCC came into force when the EC announced the poll schedules on August 16 and stayed in place till October 8 when the results were announced.

Haryana went to polls in a single phase on October 5, with the BJP winning a third consecutive term. The J&K Assembly elections were the first in 10 years and also the first since the state of J&K was bifurcated and downgraded into two Union Territories in 2019. The three-phased elections in J&K were held on September 18, September 25 and October 1, with the National Conference forming the government.

In recent election cycles, including the Lok Sabha elections this year and Karnataka Assembly polls last year, the EC issued several notices to parties. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 13 notices were issued, including to BJP president JP Nadda and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The EC had also issued six censures and handed out three bans on campaigning.

(With inputs from Asad Rehman)