Model Code of Conduct
The rules every party and candidate agrees to follow from the moment an election is announced until the results are declared.
No general or assembly election is under the Code right now. By-elections apply it locally, in the constituency and district concerned.
What it actually is
The Code is not a law passed by Parliament. It is a set of conventions agreed between the political parties themselves and enforced by the Election Commission under Article 324 of the Constitution, which charges the Commission with holding free and fair elections. Breaches are answered with notices, censure, and orders to stop — and where conduct also breaks the Representation of the People Act or the Penal Code, with prosecution under those.
When it applies
From the moment the Commission announces the schedule — not from the poll date — until results are declared. That announcement is what freezes new government schemes, transfers and discretionary grants.
The eight parts
Read the full Code (ECI PDF)Summarised from the Commission's own compendium. Numbering is the code's. · Compendium of Instructions on MCC, February 2025
General Conduct
What campaigns may and may not say about each other.
- No activity that aggravates differences or creates hatred between castes, communities, religions or languages
- Criticism confined to policies, programmes, past record and work — not private life
- No appeal to caste or communal feeling; places of worship not to be used for propaganda
- No bribery, intimidation, impersonation, or canvassing within 100 metres of a polling station
Meetings
Telling the police in advance so they can do their job.
- Venue and time notified to local police in time for arrangements
- Permission obtained for loudspeakers and any restrictive or prohibitory orders respected
Processions
Routes agreed ahead of time; traffic kept moving.
- Route, start point and time fixed in advance and not altered without notice
- No effigy-burning of other leaders; two processions to avoid the same route
Polling Day
Cooperating with officials so voting runs cleanly.
- Identity slips issued on plain white paper, without symbol, name or party
- No liquor served or distributed; camps kept beyond the prescribed distance
Polling Booth
Who may enter.
- Only voters and those holding a valid pass from the Commission
Observers
The Commission's own eyes on the ground.
- Candidates and agents may take specific complaints directly to the appointed Observer
Party in Power
The longest part, and the reason the Code exists — stopping incumbency from being spent as campaign funds.
- Ministers may not combine official visits with electioneering, or use official machinery or staff
- Government transport, aircraft and vehicles not to be used in the party's interest
- Maidans, helipads and government rest houses not to be monopolised — other parties get the same terms
- No advertising of achievements at public expense, and no partisan use of official media
- From the announcement onward: no discretionary grants, no new schemes or projects, no ad-hoc appointments
Guidelines on Election Manifesto
Added in 2015, on the Supreme Court's direction, to make parties show their working.
- Nothing in a manifesto may be repugnant to the ideals and principles of the Constitution
- Welfare promises are legitimate, but parties should avoid promises likely to vitiate the purity of the election or unduly influence voters
- Manifestos should give the rationale for promises and broadly indicate how they will be paid for
- No manifesto may be released during the prohibitory period before any phase of polling
Why Part VIII exists
In S. Subramaniam Balaji v. Govt. of Tamil Nadu (5 July 2013), the Supreme Court held that manifesto promises are not a "corrupt practice" under the Representation of the People Act — but said the reality could not be ruled out that the distribution of freebies "shakes the root of free and fair elections to a large degree". It directed the Commission to frame guidelines in consultation with recognised parties. Some parties argued that making offers to voters is their democratic right and duty; the Commission agreed framing manifestos is the parties' right, but issued Part VIII anyway.
SLP(C) No. 21455 of 2008 — in the ECI compendiumParty Manifestos
Where each party publishes its own manifesto. These are the parties' documents and their words — we index them and link out, we do not summarise or reproduce them.
This index is incomplete and grows by hand. Parties host manifestos on their own sites, and the ECI publishes no machine-readable archive, so every entry here is checked against reporting before it is added. · Links last checked: 6 Aug 2026