Model Code of Misconduct

If you’ve been watching a lot of news television lately, you’d have found that one word — okay, let’s be precise, phrase — hits your eardrums almost as often as “BJP” or “Congress” does. I am referring, of course, to “Model Code of Conduct”. You switch on the TV for a prime time dose of the dance of democracy (the fancy name for the general elections) and you invariably hear people banging on about this or that violating the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct. I mean, it is a bit thick. When you want to know about the latest juicy tidbit, the latest outrageous name-calling, the latest brazen publicity gimmick or the latest miraculous promise, you don’t want to get sucked into a fruitless digression on whether there has been a flouting of the code along the way.

Don’t get me wrong. I agree that the Model Code of Conduct is a good thing, for it lays down a certain standard of behaviour on the part of political parties and candidates once the election dates have been announced. It stipulates what they may or may not do as they go about canvassing for votes, and that includes treating their opponents with decorum. It also expects ruling parties at the Centre and the states not to use the public exchequer or the machinery of the state for their electoral campaigns.

Political parties, model entities that they are, undoubtedly do their best to abide by the Model Code. And yet the discourse in this election season is bristling with allegations of the code being violated at every turn. The Election Commission is flooded with complaints, and if it doesn’t take action against these so-called infringements, there are dark mutterings about its lack of neutrality. Which, by the way, is seriously anti-national — you strike a low blow against the nation if you question a body like the EC.

Take the brouhaha over the attempt to release the biopic PM Narendra Modi on the eve of the elections. The film would have hit the theatres this week had it not been for a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the timing of its release. The EC, though, initially said there was no harm in releasing the film now. Nothing like a hagiography of the Prime Minister, with the dashing Vivek Oberoi in the eponymous role, to get the election fever going, don’t you know. 

Photo: Twitter

And if hoardings and banners are kosher, why take umbrage at tea cups on trains and Air India tickets bearing Modi’s pictures? Yes, there was the small matter of state agencies being used for the PM’s relentless branding exercise. Anyhow, these were withdrawn fairly quickly. But now a malcontent Opposition is screaming “violation” over NaMo TV, a channel named after our PM, which cropped up on DTH platforms last week and is devoted to showcasing him and the government’s achievements. The Centre has clarified that it’s an advertising channel. It’s also an entertaining one. When I switched it on, a video in which the finance minister recites the government’s economic numbers (while trashing those of the previous regime’s) was running on loop, and it was fun watching it four times in the space of 15 minutes. 

It’s not as if the EC isn’t vigilant. Look at the notices it has shot off to offenders against the code — state-owned Doordarshan for beaming the Prime Minister’s Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign, Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, who is supposed to have an apolitical role, for rooting for the BJP, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for calling the Indian Army “Modiji ki Sena”, and so on. But the notices don’t seem to cut much ice. This week Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi repeated the “Modiji ki sena” comment, blithely ignoring the fact that describing the Indian army as the PM’s personal militia had invited censure from the EC. 

Should we persist with a code of behaviour which seems to be observed more in its breach? Why complicate the election process with something that has no statutory teeth and is based merely on an appeal to the good sense of politicians and their proxies? Why not have an unfettered dance of democracy? At least it would be far more interesting than these sorry contortions around the Model Code of Conduct. 

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Shuma Raha is a journalist and author based in Delhi @ShumaRaha