The electoral violations witnessed at the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls have raised concerns about the fairness of India’s electoral process. These incidents highlight the critical need for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to enforce the model code of conduct (MCC) more strictly to generate confidence in the fairness of the entire process. As India’s democracy matures, the ECI’s role must evolve from being a regulatory body to a proactive force that safeguards democratic values.
Given the increasing political polarisation and the use of charged campaign rhetoric, a stricter enforcement of the MCC is not only necessary but imperative. The ECI needs to act with more alacrity to prevent such inflammatory oratory from influencing voters. Among other things, the MCC is meant to deter leaders from making communal and casteist statements during the election period.
However, the frequency of such violations has been growing in successive polls. In a large number of cases, the political leaders violating the MCC face little or no consequence. This lack of accountability is of serious concern. And repeated violations highlight a critical gap in the ECI’s monitoring and intervention mechanisms. While some cases did lead to remedy and reprimands, the delay in action often diminished the deterrent effect.
The ECI requires closer monitoring of speeches, social media platforms and public rallies. This can be better done by empowering district- and state-level election authorities to act on real-time reports of MCC violations, with clear guidelines and protocols for swift and proportionate action. This decentralisation will also bring in a larger pool of officers to look at the violations, rather than confining most powers in the hands of three central commissioners.
The ECI also needs to upgrade its technological infrastructure. In the digital age, electioneering has moved beyond traditional rallies to social media platforms, where misinformation can spread like wildfire. The ECI must strengthen its digital surveillance to identify and counter harmful content. Collaborating with social media platforms to promptly flag and remove such content could be a game-changer. The use of artificial intelligence tools to monitor online content could be another effective tool in this mechanism. Finally, training electoral staff to understand these dynamics and take swift action will be the key to preventing a repeat of the violations seen in recent elections.
